Officers removed as defendants in Dominique White’s family’s lawsuit

Topeka police officers Justin Mackey and Michael Cruse have been removed as defendants in the lawsuit being pursued by family members of Dominique White, whom Mackey and Cruse fatally shot in September 2017.

A federal judge on Monday – the third anniversary of White’s death – issued a 54-page ruling dismissing the first count of a two-count lawsuit filed in June 2018 against Topeka’s city government, Mackey, Cruse and five unnamed officers.

The lawsuit’s second count, which contends the city failed to train its police officers adequately, continues to move forward. A trial date hasn’t been set.

Mackey, Cruse and any unnamed officers are to be removed as defendants because they have qualified immunity, U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree concluded in Monday’s ruling.

Qualified immunity shields government officials performing discretionary functions from liability for civil damages if their conduct doesn’t violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.

“After reviewing the relevant case law, the court concludes the law wasn’t clearly established that Officers Cruse and Mackey violated Mr. White’s Fourth Amendments rights under the circumstances of this case,” Crabtree wrote.

Mackey and Cruse continue to work as Topeka police officers.

White’s family’s attorney – Andrew M. Stroth, managing director of Chicago-based Action Injury Law Group, a national civil rights law firm – said Tuesday they were reviewing Crabtree’s ruling and would pursue all available legal options moving forward.

"Similar to other young Black males in America, Dominique White was unjustifiably killed by the police,“ Stroth said. ”In this case, the two officers working within the scope of their employment with the Topeka Police Department tragically and without provocation killed Dominique.“

City of Topeka media relations coordinator Molly Hadfield on Tuesday released a one-sentence statement from the city in reaction to Monday’s ruling.

“The court found that the law was not clearly established that Mr. White’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated under the circumstances of this case, and that the officers were entitled to qualified immunity,” the city said.

Mackey and Cruse were on duty when they fatally shot White, 30, in the back after a struggle the morning of Sept. 28, 2017, near Ripley Park at S.E. 3rd and Lawrence.

White denied he had a gun, then resisted the officers as they tried to seize a handgun from his shorts pocket, said Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay.

White was shot after running away from officers with his left hand hovering over the pocket containing the gun, Kagay said.

The officers were cleared of criminal wrongdoing in the case, and an internal police investigation concluded they had committed no policy violations.

Stroth filed a two-count lawsuit in June 2018 on behalf of White’s father, Kelly White, and Dominique White’s four minor children against Mackey, Cruse, the city of Topeka and five unnamed officers. Dominique White’s mother, Mary Theresa Wynne, was later added as a plaintiff.

The suit’s first count contended Mackey and Cruse shot White without just cause. The second contends the city and its police department trained officers inadequately.

Crabtree issued a summary judgment Monday dismissing the first count. A summary judgment is a determination made by a court without a full trial.

“This is a particularly difficult case,” Crabtree wrote in the first sentence of Monday’s ruling.

He concluded attorneys for White’s family hadn’t discharged their responsibility to come forward with “clearly established weight of authority from other courts” that would find “the law to be as the plaintiff maintains.”

In Monday’s ruling, Crabtree addressed various past court decisions regarding police use of force.

“Unlike other cases where officers learned later that the suspect wasn’t armed, the officers here actually knew Mr. White had a gun in his pocket,” he stressed. “Officer Mackey saw the gun in Mr. White’s pocket, and Officer Cruse later recovered it (along with additional magazines) from Mr. White’s pocket. Mr. White resisted the officers’ attempts to secure the weapon, and he ignored their commands to lie down and stop. Instead, Mr. White struggled against the officers’ attempts to secure the firearm, he broke free from them, and he ran away while armed with a gun in his pocket.”