Lawsuit alleges search for man who shot McKeesport police officer targeted Black residents
Still in handcuffs, surveillance video shows Koby Francis shooting a McKeesport officer in the neck before running for days. As hours passed, dozens of law enforcement from across the region descended upon this community in search of Francis.
Going door to door, one of those doors belonged to Courtney Thompkins.
“I felt unprotected, I felt anger, I didn’t understand why there were so many why they couldn’t knock on the door and say do you mind we have somebody on the loose why didn’t they do any of that,” Thompkins said.
Thompkins describes guns drawn and even her partner being held at gunpoint.
“When you wear that badge you are supposed to protect, and honor that badge and protect your community and they didn’t do that that day, they didn’t protect me,” Thompkins said.
That’s why she’s one of three people from the McKeesport community suing the county and city over what they call “unlawful searches.” On top of the suit, advocacy groups are calling for change.
“We are demanding an independent investigation be conducted into the officer’s behaviors in addition to the city passing a data transparency ordinance which would allow law enforcement data to be tracked by race,” said Fawn Walker Montogomery with Take Action Advocacy Group.
Plus they are calling on the department to volunteer to join the county police review board and want to defund the police department by 10% or more.
“The funds should go into a community foundation grant program that will be separate from the city and the foundation would be given out to the community to work on violence,” Montogomery said.
When it comes to this manhunt, it was days before Francis was ultimately captured by the US Marshals in West Virginia so the number of agencies involved is lengthy, so there may be more agencies added to the suit.
As for now, the county, county police and McKeesport Police are not commenting.
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