DETROIT – The family of a woman who was shot and killed by Detroit police during a mental health crisis has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the department.
Ki’Azia Miller, 27, a mother of two, was shot and killed during a mental health crisis on Nov. 10, 2022. The lawsuit has been filed on behalf of her family and their attorney Geoffrey Feiger.
The family said the police department and the officers on the scene were negligent. Police said the night Miller was shot she had several weapons, including a gun. Her family said that’s not the case.
Her family said this isn’t an attack on police, they just want their daughter’s story and her death to be heard. The lawsuit tells a different story from the one police told on the night Miller was shot. Police said Miller was having a mental health crisis and had attacked her mother and son while wielding a bat, a knife and a gun.
The family said Miller was not armed when police tackled and shot her an estimated four times. The said she was holding her phone while on Facebook live, not a gun. The family is suing $50 million for negligence by the department’s crisis task force.
“The idea that we respond to mental health crises with guns is insanity. It’s not and it should not continue unless it costs because nobody is paying attention to it unless we make them pay a whole lot of money,” Feiger said.
This is the second lawsuit to be brought for the second incident in two months of someone in a mental health crisis. Feiger also represents the family in the case of Porter Burks. He said he still hasn’t seen body camera video footage of that shooting, despite a subpoena and said he’s also waiting on video of Miller’s killing.
“Those police wear body cams. If she had a gun, we’ll all be able to see it. Let’s see it right now. Show us the body cams of Ki’Azia with a gun,” Feiger said.