A federal lawsuit has been filed against the New Castle County police officer who fatally shot Andrew Edelmann and injured Aida Pabon on March 6 near Elsmere, one of the attorneys for Pabon and Edelmann’s family announced Thursday.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, also names New Castle County’s director of public safety and the county itself, seeking damages from all three for the wrongful death of Edelmann, negligence and excessive use of force.
Both the lawsuit and information released by police after the shooting state that Edelmann and Pabon were parked at a 7-Eleven near Maryland and West Champlain avenues. Police had followed them as part of a narcotics investigation, according to both sources, and planned to arrest Edelmann and Pabon.
BACKGROUND:New Castle County police say man fatally shot by officer Monday was driving at police
The accounts of the interactions between officers and Edelmann and Pabon differ slightly.
How police, victim accounts differ
The New Castle County Police Department said that Edelmann, who was behind the wheel, tried to escape from police and drove in the direction of the officers. In response, an officer who has not been identified fired his weapon at Edelmann and Pabon, hitting both of them.
USE OF FORCE:County officers’ use of force justified in nonfatal September shooting, DOJ says
According to Pabon, whose account of the events is detailed in the lawsuit, a police officer in plainclothes approached her and Edelmann with a pistol drawn. She said the officer could see that her friend was not pointing anything at the officer or making any “threatening movements or gestures.”
The officer did not tell Pabon or Edelmann that he was going to use deadly force, according to the lawsuit, and then fired his weapon “suddenly and without any warning, justification or provocation.”
The car, which court documents claim was idling, then began to move on its own after Edelmann was shot.
MORE:All of Delaware’s officer-involved shootings since 2005
The lawsuit acknowledges that there is a “dispute” about whether any of the police officers identified themselves as law enforcement before approaching Edelmann’s car, and there has not been any footage publicly released to show the order of events.
Why hasn’t the body cam footage been released?
While there was body camera footage of the incident recorded, police said they chose not to release it after speaking with Edelmann’s family.
“The Division remains committed to transparency and promptly providing the public with information; however, we must balance that commitment with the wishes of the individual’s family,” the department said in a March 27 press release.
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Edelmann was fatally injured in the shooting, according to both police and the lawsuit, and Pabon was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound that required surgery.
The New Castle County Police Department did not respond to request for comment on the litigation, and the county said it had no comment.
The officer involved in the shooting, who has not been publicly identified in either the lawsuit or by the police department, has been on administrative leave since the incident, as per policy. The Criminal Investigations Unit and the Delaware Department of Justice are still conducting their investigation.
Send story tips or ideas to Hannah Edelman at hedelman@delawareonline.com. For more reporting, follow them on Twitter at @h_edelman.
