COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Two heartbroken parents continue to try to hold a police officer accountable for shooting and killing their teenaged son, Vincent Truitt, in 2020. The officer was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing a year ago, he was never even charged.
But Wednesday the parents filed suit, in federal court in Atlanta, against the officer and against Cobb County, seeking a jury trial and damages of $150 Million -- trying to exact punishment that they believe the officer and the county deserve.
It was in July, 2020, when Cobb County police forced a car they believed was stolen to come to a stop. One of the passengers was 17-year-old Vincent Truitt.
Truitt jumped out and ran away.
One of the officers ran after Truitt and believed he saw Truitt holding a gun, but not pointing it at him in the two seconds after Truitt jumped out of the car and ran, and just then the the officer shot Truitt twice in the back, killing him.
Police later said they found a handgun near Truitt's body.
In the weeks and months since, protestors, including Truitt’s family, have expressed their anger and frustration with the case, especially after the Cobb County Grand Jury concluded, in February, 2021 that the officer’s action was justified.
The D.A. did not file any criminal charges.
In the federal lawsuit that Truitt’s parents filed, they claim that “lack of training caused Defendant... to use excessive force by shooting decedent Truitt in the back while he posed no threat” to anyone.
11Alive's Legal Analyst, Attorney Page Pate, said Wednesday that Georgia law makes it difficult to sue a county government and a police officer, and makes it difficult to win a judgment against them—especially when the officer has already been cleared of criminal wrongdoing.
And yet, “in a civil case," Pate said, "many times a jury may think, ‘well, nobody’s getting punished, here, there really hasn’t been any justice,’” since there were no criminal charges filed against the officer. “’So maybe we have a bigger obligation to do something in the civil case, just to make sure that justice is done.’”
Pate himself filed suit against Henry County on behalf of the family of Fernando Rodriguez.
Rodriguez was naked and unarmed, walking down a street in Hampton, and police bodycam videos show officers tasing Rodriguez repeatedly, even though he was on the pavement writhing in pain from the jolts.
Rodriguez died. Those officers were indicted and are awaiting trial. But Henry County is fighting the lawsuit.
One reason for a wrongful death lawsuit in the Truitt case in Cobb County, Pate said, “would be to try to keep this case out in the public view, keep some attention on it, hoping that the county commission would decide that this is something that we need to do something about, we should take care of this family, we should pay them something” and not force the parents to go to a jury trial in federal court.
“They (the parents) have to prove that the county’s policies, procedures, clear lack of training, led to the death, not just the officer’s actions,” Pate said. “But again, the law is usually stacked in favor of the county in cases like this.... I can’t overstate how difficult it is to hold a county liable for an individual officer’s actions in a situation like this, the law is just so difficult to overcome for the plaintiff.”
Cobb County said Wednesday it will fight the lawsuit.
Truitt’s mother, Venethia Cook, told 11Alive this past April she will continue to fight, too.
“Even though he’s gone,” Cook said, “my duty as a mother isn’t over. So I’m gonna fight.”
The Truitt family’s attorneys have scheduled a news conference for Thursday, with members of Truitt's family, to answer questions about the federal lawsuit and about their continued efforts to have the officer criminally charged in Cobb County, or, possibly, in federal court.