The family of an unarmed man killed by a Dallas police officer is suing the city in a wrongful death lawsuit that is expected to go to court this September.
On Monday, former police officer Matthew Tate, attorneys for the city of Dallas and administrators with the Dallas Police Department sat down with some of the surviving family members of Tobias Mackey at the Federal Courthouse in Dallas for a private mediation hearing.
At the age of 25, Mackey was shot nine times by Tate on Oct. 29, 2010, when the officer said Mackey did not follow commands to show his hands.
Tate, a 3-year veteran of the police department, was investigating drug activity at the Cedar Garden Apartments at the time of the shooting. He said as Mackey approached him in a breezeway, he ordered the man to show him his hands. When he didn't, Tate opened fire, fatally shooting Mackey and injuring 11-year-old Xavier Collins.
Collins, who was shot in the forearm, made a full recovery.
An internal investigation was conducted and, though Mackey was not the target of the investigation at the apartment complex and was unarmed at the time of the shooting, Tate was cleared of any wrongdoing and was not indicted by a grand jury.
Tate resigned from the police department soon after.
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Not satisfied with the result of the department's internal investigation, Mackey’s family has worked for more than two years to have the case reexamined.
Mackey’s mother, Shelia Lewis, said Monday she had no intention of accepting any financial settlement and would be going forward with a trial.
She said she was able to address Tate during the hearing, saying, “When you killed my son, you killed me too. You shot my son down like he was an animal.”
Lewis, and her daughter Treneshia Montgomery, said they’ve also taken the case to the FBI, who they said is now looking into a criminal investigation.
