We, the Georgetown Civil Rights Clinic, filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on August 27, 2020, suing the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) on behalf of Marqueese Alston and his aggrieved mother Kenithia Alston, the Special Administrator of his estate. We allege that the officers used excessive force in murdering Marqueese and that the District negligently allowed his death to happen through the continuity of MPD’s harmful jump-out policy.
You can download our full complaint below.
In October and November 2020, the District and individual MPD officers filed Motions to Dismiss our Complaint. Within its arguments, the officers claimed that they were protected from liability by qualified immunity and thereby should not be held accountable for the murder of Marqueese.
UPDATE: On March 24, 2024, the District Court for the District of Columbia partially denied the District and its officers’ Motions to Dismiss. Specifically, the Court held that “Ms. Alston’s complaint plausibly alleges that [MPD’s officers] could not have reasonably believed that Mr. Alston posed a threat of serious physical harm . . . [a]nd, at the risk of stating the obvious, it is clearly established that it is ‘constitutionally unreasonable’ for officers to shoot and kill a fleeing man without any reason to believe he is armed or otherwise dangerous.” The Court also found that “Ms. Alston plausibly alleges that MPD has a policy of conducting unlawful jump-outs,” which ultimately led to Marqueese’s death.
You can download the full decision on the motion to dismiss below.