CINCINNATI (AP) — The family of a Cincinnati woman shot dead by police last weekend has filed suit against the officer responsible, accusing him of killing her without provocation.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court, accuses Cincinnati police Officer Matthew Latzy of wrongful death in the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Erica Collins on Oct. 13 while responding to a call about a fight between her and her sister.
Latzy did not immediately return a call for comment Friday, but police Sgt. Dennis Swingley said that the officer shot Collins twice because she was threatening him with a butcher knife.
But the lawsuit accuses Latzy of shooting Collins after she put the knife down, and says that she was not posing an immediate threat.
"Two bullets — head, heart. Incredible," said Eric Deters, the attorney representing Collins' family. "He shot a 5-foot, 3-inch woman with a knife two times. He didn't pepper spray her, he didn't taze her, he didn't use his martial arts training. My god, there's all kinds of options he had and he chose none of them."
The lawsuit contends that when Latzy arrived to the scene of the domestic dispute, he found Collins trying to slash her sister's tires with a knife, and told her to stop and put the weapon down.
"Ms. Collins then stood up without the knife in her hand and stated, 'How are you just gonna let her leave?'" the lawsuit says. "Erica Collins put her hands up and said, 'No!' ... and Latzy then shot Erica Collins two times."
That version of events is wildly different from what police say happened.
In a news conference on Sunday, Chief James Craig told reporters that his initial opinion was that the shooting was justified and that several witnesses reported that Collins had refused to drop the knife and stepped toward Latzy.
"She makes the comment 'You're going to have to kill me,'" Craig said. "There are certain things officers process, they go into a tunnel vision and focus on the threat and in this instance the threat was a knife ... It would have ripped through his vest and killed him, that's what he said to me."
He said that Latzy also expressed "a lot of sorrow" over the shooting.
Latzy, a 13-year veteran, is on paid administrative leave as the shooting is investigated, per standard departmental procedure.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
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