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Cops Kill Hero Teen Protecting a Mother and Her Son in Response to a Drive-By Shooting — Lawsuit


Fred Cox, 18, and his family were at the Living Water Baptist Church in November for Jonas Thompson Jr.'s funeral. According to a complaint filed this week, gunfire rang out during the ceremony as a drive-by shooting occurred and Cox went into hero mode. Regrettably, the lawsuit alleges that a police officer on the scene would murder Cox for his act of valor.

“Fred is gone for being a hero while Melanin,” Ben Crump, the civil rights attorney representing Cox's family, said at a Wednesday news conference. According to authorities, Cox was a visitor at Thompson's funeral two weeks earlier on November 8, 2020. Davidson County Sheriff's Deputy Michael Shane Hill was also there at the family's request to assist in the investigation of Thompson's murder. He was on hand to speak with prospective witnesses.

As a group of individuals went to their vehicles after the funeral, bullets rang out outside the church from a drive-by shooting. Cox allegedly noticed a woman and her 12-year-old kid trying to flee the gunfire and rushed in their direction, holding the door open for them to enter more quickly. According to the complaint, deputy Hill opened fire on Cox from behind, stabbing him multiple times in the back – murdering the 18-year-old would-be hero. Despite the fact that 70 bullets were fired that day, Cox was the sole victim. Following Cox's death, Hill claimed to have spotted a firearm in Cox's hands, which prompted him to open fire. His family and lawyers, on the other hand, reject this allegation, claiming that their son was unarmed when Hill opened fire.

Additionally, Cox could not have been carrying a pistol, according to the mother and son he assisted inside the church since he had one hand on the door and the other guiding them inside as the pandemonium erupted.

“Fred held the door open to ensure that others escaped danger, and he took the bullets,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in January. “He is a hero, and a hero cannot be killed,” Crump said.

According to the complaint, Hill was so careless with his firing that a bullet touched even the 12-year-old child. The Davidson County Sheriff's Office and Deputy Hill are named in the federal complaint. The family seeks unspecified damages on six charges, including excessive force, wrongful death, battery, and carelessness, as well as a violation of Cox's Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

“Fred Cox saved the mother and son's lives prior to his fall by ensuring they were secure within the church before attempting entry,” the lawsuit says.

Despite the fact that police found no proof that Cox was a member of a gang or fired a firearm, a grand jury refused to prosecute him in June, and Hill will remain free. He has subsequently been restored in his departmental post.

“I cannot emphasize more that Fred should not be dead,” Tenicka Shannon, Cox's mother, said Wednesday.

“Our family is bereaved,” she concluded. “Our grief is exacerbated by our bewilderment over how this catastrophe could have occurred.”

“For far too long, we have seen disadvantaged individuals being stopped and harmed by police for driving while black, riding a bicycle while melanin, or strolling down the street while melanin,” Crump said in a statement. “However, a cop shot this young guy in the back while attempting to save lives in a very hazardous situation.”

Indeed, it is very perilous. If police officers can get away with killing unarmed people who are assisting in the rescue of others, what does this say about the Land of the Free's judicial system?

Cox's two children, a nine-month-old and a one-year-old will now grow up fatherless.

Check the link for the video:https://www.policebrutalityworldwidechannel.com/2021/08/cops-kill-hero-teen-protecting-a-mother-and-her-son-in-response-to-a-drive-by-shooting-lawsuit/

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