The widow of a Texas man fatally shot by a Mesa police officer has filed a $75 million lawsuit. The suit alleges the January 2016 shooting was unprovoked and could have been avoided.
Laney Sweet is suing the city of the Mesa, the responding officers and the hotel’s parent company. Sweet says in her suit the tactics used by officers contributed to death of her husband, 26-year-old Daniel Shaver. He was killed in the hallway outside his hotel room after he was ordered to crawl toward officers, who were responding to a report of someone pointing a gun out a window.
The shooter, former Officer Philip Brailsford, was arrested, and has pleaded not guilty in Shaver's death.
The officer was later fired for violations of departmental policy. This new lawsuit comes one week after Shaver’s parents filed a separate lawsuit.
