Family of teen fatally shot by police sues Greensboro and officer
Wakita Doriety’s legal team claims unreleased bodycam footage makes it clear her unarmed son, Nasanto Antonio Crenshaw, turned the car he was driving away from police and did not pose a threat.
The family of a Black teenager killed while evading a traffic stop has filed a lawsuit against the city of Greensboro, North Carolina, and one of its police officers.
An unidentified officer with the Greensboro Police Department fatally shot Nasanto Antonio Crenshaw in August, and on Thursday, his mother, Wakita Doriety, announced a federal wrongful death lawsuit against that individual and the city, according to a joint press release from her lawyers, Harry Daniels and Chimeaka White.
“I’ll never get to hug my son again,” Doriety said in a statement. “I’ll never get to hold his hand or tell him I love him.”
Greensboro and the GPD have declined to name the cop who killed Crenshaw, 17, or make the body-worn camera footage of the incident public. However, after watching the video, Doriety’s legal team claims it is clear the unarmed teen turned the car he was driving away from police and did not immediately pose a threat.
White says the footage clearly shows what happened, but the police department is unwilling to publicize it because “they’re the ones running from justice.”
“At the end of the day, this officer shot and killed a child because he was taking a joyride,” Daniels added in the statement. “He wasn’t armed and dangerous. He didn’t pose a threat. He was running for his life and this officer gunned him down.”
Daniels, a civil rights attorney, also represented the family of Andrew Brown Jr. in their $30 million lawsuit against the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina.
A Pasquotank County deputy shot and killed Brown in April 2021 after 10 officers attempted to serve him with a warrant for drug-related charges, theGrio previously reported. Eyewitnesses claimed deputies shot Brown as he tried to drive away in his car, posing no threat. An autopsy later verified his death was caused by a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
In June, Pasquotank County officials disclosed a $3 million settlement in the case.
The circumstances surrounding Crenshaw’s death are reminiscent of Brown’s killing, according to the attorneys’ press release.
“They stole my son from me,” Doriety said, “and they won’t even release the name of the officer who did it.”
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