DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — After a man was killed following a standoff with DeKalb County Police, his family is now planning to file a lawsuit against the department.
The family of Matthew Zadok Williams announced they will file the suit after the 35-year-old was shot and killed by police in 2021.
The family claims the department violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, saying officers failed to provide Zadok with adequate mental health resources a month prior to the standoff. His family claims that in March of 2021, Zadok called 911, "requesting an ambulance because he was suffering a mental health crisis," a release said.
A transcript of the DeKalb County 911 call was provided by the family. In the call, Zadok had requested help from the FBI, telling the operator he was being stalked.
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The release goes on to say that police referred to Zadok's 911 call as a "behavioral health crisis," which was confirmed in the incident report filed by police.
Although police considered Zadok's problem as "behavioral health crisis," the family claims officers never called an ambulance, consulted with a mental health professional or made a mental health referral for Zadok.
In addition to the family's claims that officers failed to provide Zadok with mental health resources, they say officers did not file a police report for the March incident.
Zadok's family questioned why officers treated Zadok as a trespasser at the property a month later when he was shot, when one of the responding officers knew of Zadok and his mental health crisis because they responded to the home for the March incident.
One of the officers who filed the March incident report calling Zadok's March incident a "behavioral health crisis" was also called to the scene a month later in April of 2021.
In the bodycam footage recorded on the day of the standoff, that officer said, "I think he lives there," as he speaks to a woman who called 911. She tells him no one lives there, but that the owner sometimes comes around, and the officer responds, "There was somebody in there the other day."
In a later portion of the videos, the officer also tells another officer he spoke with Zadok through the window of the home, referencing the March incident.
The suit will argue that part of the ADA is tied to the DeKalb Police Department's Mobile Crisis Unit, which assists in mental health crisis situations, and which the suit says at the time of the shooting was underfunded and understaffed.
A little less than a month later, police were called again to Zadok's home after a neighbor claimed there was a prowler in a vacant home. Zadok was not a prowler, but a resident of the home.
A portion of bodycam footage shows an initial encounter between Zadok and DeKalb County Police in which Zadok was asked to come out of the home. He comes out of the front door, lunging at officers with a knife.
An officer fired one shot at him, missing, and he eventually got back inside the home.
The videos showed an extended standoff with Zadok barricaded in the home and officers pleading with him to drop the knife. He refused and told officers he was defending his home.
Police said Zadok lunged at him again, and they shot at him three times. The bodycam videos never showed a clear angle of the incident, and The New Yorker reported from a later review of footage that the officer who shot Zadok told a lieutenant arriving on scene that Zadok "came again towards the door with the knife" before later answering, "No," when someone asked him if Zadok actually lunged at him.
More than an hour later, Zadok's body was recovered from the home.
Zadok's mental health was later questioned by police the day he was shot in a conversation between Police Chief Mirtha Ramos and Sgt. Devon Perry, who shot Zadok.
When Ramos asks if he was mentally ill, Perry said, "Yeah. Definitely mentally ill."
In 2022, the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office decided not to bring forth any charges in the case involving Zadok. The DA’s Office concluded that the “use of the force in this case was justified.”
Following the DA’s decision, the family has now made the decision to sue the department. In addition to claims made by the suit that police violated the ADA law, the suit also claims that “violations of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973” were also violated, according to the release.
"The family recognizes that this lawsuit is even bigger than the tragic loss of their beloved son and brother. They understand this is an effort to finally protect disabled citizens suffering from mental health crises. They hope this will help save lives and other families the pain ache they feel every day," said civil rights attorney Mawuli Mel Davis in a statement.
11Alive has reached out to the department for a statement regarding the new lawsuit and we are awaiting a response.