Darrius Stewart
Birth date:
March 20, 1996
Death date:
July 17, 2015
Age at Death:
19
About
Darrius Stewart was a 19-year-old teen who was shot and killed in Memphis. While almost no information is publicly available about his childhood, it's believe that he grew up locally in Memphis, Tennessee.
During a traffic stop, Darrius was in a back seat of a friend's car. After a police officer ran all the IDs, he found the two active warrants for Stewart. After being put in the back of a police car, he kicked the door open and attacked the police officer with handcuffs. During the struggle where he fought the officer, he was shot and killed.
Was justice served?
Stewart's father, Henry Williams, filed suit against Schilling and the City of Memphis. Former Police Director Toney Armstrong was sued in his official capacity, but U.S. District Judge S. Thomas Anderson dismissed the claim against him in 2017. Then in 2019, U.S. District Judge Samuel Mays Jr. ruled to dismiss the city from the case, but he let the suit against the officer as an individual continue. The Stewart family dropped its suit against the police officer and asked an appeals court to reverse the judge's ruling and reinstate the city as a defendant. In October, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit affirmed the judge's decision to dismiss the city government from the case. That led to a court filing restarting the lawsuit, this time against the officer alone. "As a direct and proximate result of the actions or omissions of the defendant ... Stewart was killed, and his constitutional rights under the United States Constitution and Tennessee Constitution were violated," the new lawsuit says. The new suit seeks $17.2 million in damages. It's the same amount family members demanded in the prior lawsuit.
-https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2020/02/10/darrius-stewart-mother-sues-former-memphis-officer-connor-schilling/4712694002/