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Date: 03-13-2023
Case Style:
Iwoinakee Cebray Harris-Billups v. Milele Anderson
Case Number: 1:19-CV-3984
Judge: Steve C. Jones
Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (Fulton County)
Plaintiff's Attorney:
Defendant's Attorney: Russell Alan Britt, R. David Ware
Description: Atlanta, Georgia personal injury lawyer represented Plaintiffs, who sued Defendants on civil rights violation theories.
Around midnight on August 2, 2017, Officer Anderson
pulled into an apartment complex in DeKalb County, Georgia,
responding to a noise complaint. Almost immediately, Mr.
Harris—who was suffering psychosis and stammering about
“death or dying”—accosted Officer Anderson and put a gun to her
head. Officer Anderson drew her sidearm and Mr. Harris backed
off—only to point his gun at her partner.
Weapons drawn all around, a standoff ensued. The officers
ordered Mr. Harris to drop his gun. But he kept it trained on them
and a third officer who had arrived to provide backup. Mr. Harris
warned that he would kill them all—and he even put the gun to his
own head, threatening to kill himself. Several tense moments
passed as the officers repeatedly implored Mr. Harris to stand
down. Their pleas went unheeded.
Still armed, Mr. Harris got into his parked car. As he did, a
gun fell to the ground. Thinking that Mr. Harris was then
unarmed, one of the officers holstered his weapon and announced
that Harris had dropped his gun. But the peace was false: Mr.
Harris promptly drew a second gun, and the standoff resumed.
It was at this point that Officer Anderson activated her
bodycam. The footage it captured is key to this case and is
accessible here. See Video, Doc. 23-4
(https://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/media-sources). Readers would
do well to stop and watch it. Here, in brief, is what it shows:
0:00–1:10. As the camera begins to roll, Officer Anderson
narrates, clearly on edge: “Ass should have been fuckin’ shot,” she
snaps. Id. at 0:06–0:21. She and her partners sternly—and
repeatedly—order Mr. Harris to “put the weapon down!” Id.
Officer Anderson repositions herself to avoid crossfire and instructs
the others to do likewise: “Watch the crossfire!” she commands.
Id. at 0:45; see also id. at 0:26–0:38. She moves in front of Mr.
Harris’s car, eyeing him through the windshield.
1:11–1:20. The dam breaks. At the 1:11 mark, Mr. Harris
opens fire on the officers. They respond relentlessly, unleashing a
five-second barrage of 54 bullets. Id. at 1:12–1:17. Mr. Harris
emerges from the car, and Officer Anderson fires three more times.
Id. at 1:17–1:20. (Of these 57 bullets, four hit Mr. Harris—one each
USCA11 Case: 22-10033 Document: 41-1 Date Filed: 03/13/2023 Page: 4 of 16
22-10033 Opinion of the Court 5
in his abs, back, forearm, and calf.) Mr. Harris falls to the
pavement.
1:21–1:24. At this point, Mr. Harris appears to have been
disarmed—his first gun remains where he dropped it, several feet
from where he lies, and the second is just next to it. See id. at 1:39.1
Even so, the situation remains extremely volatile. One officer cries
out that he’s been “shot in the hand, shot in the hand!” Id. at 1:21–
1:24. (The bullet fragment, as it turns out, was from his own
weapon.) Officer Anderson keeps her gun trained on Mr. Harris,
who is writhing on the pavement, in the fetal position, atop shards
of glass. Id. at 1:20–1:24.
This case turns on what happens during the next second.
1:25–1:26. At the 1:25 mark, Harris lurches—violently. Id.
at 1:25. His legs kick outward, his chest jumps off the ground, and
his arms swing down to his torso.2 Immediately, Officer Anderson
takes one more shot. Id. This bullet, the 58th fired at Mr. Harris,
kills him.
Outcome: Motion for summary judgement granted and affirmed on appeal.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: