The lawyers representing the family of slain former South African rugby player, Lindani Myeni, say they will continue with the civil case against the Honolulu Police Department in the United States.
This despite the Honolulu city prosecutor’s decision not to press any charges against the police officers who were involved in Myeni’s fatal shooting. Releasing a report on a month-long inquest into the matter, the prosecutor said the shooting was justified.
Myeni was shot and killed during a confrontation with US police in Hawaii.
Never seen before footage of the night of Lindani Myeni’s death:
The lawyer representing the Myeni family, Jim Bickerton, says the family will continue will continue with a wrongful death lawsuit despite the outcome of the Hawaiian police’s investigation.
Bickerton says the basis of the police arguments, citing Myeni as dangerous, are flawed.
“Announcement by Prosecutor Steven Alm does not have any impact on our civil case. It is disappointing that he decided not to press civil charges against the two officers but the civil case is separate from the criminal case. From our point of view of view, it does seem like he skipped over the main analysis.”
Bickerton adds: “From our point of view is that when a fight breaks out a prosecutor should look at who started the fight. He improperly skipped over the first aggressive action by the unlawful command of the police officers to lie on the ground.”
Bickerton says after conducting their investigation – they have now identified the officers.
He says the legal team has filed papers to name the two officers who fired the shots as additional defendants in the suit.
“Together we were able to piece together from police badges and the names that they used when addressing each other, that’s why we filed an identification of the defendants,” he explains.
US Civil rights leader Al Sharpton supports Lindani Myeni’s family:
