Man killed by Hayward police was naked, unarmed, suit says

A man was naked and unarmed when he was shot numerous times in the back and killed by Hayward police, his siblings said in a federal civil rights lawsuit.

Jeffrey McKinney, 29, was shot dead by Hayward police Officers Kenneth Landreth and Ricardo Flores at the Phoenix Lodge on West A Street early on July 6, 2014, says the suit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

Police have said McKinney lunged for the guns of officers who had responded to reports that McKinney forced his way into a tenant’s room, refused to leave and acted erratically.

Officers tried to coax McKinney from the room and entered when he wouldn’t come out, police said.

But the suit accuses police of killing McKinney “despite the fact that he was naked, unarmed and did not pose a threat to the officers or anyone else at the time they decided to use deadly force against him.”

According to the suit, Sgt. Scott Lunger had hoped to bring McKinney into custody without a struggle by sending an arrest team into the hotel room. Several officers were assigned to the team and were tasked with deploying different levels of force, the complaint says.

Lunger first used pepper spray under the door, but it had no effect on McKinney, the suit says. Landreth then tried to force the door open, but furniture was wedged against it, the suit says.

“Realizing the entry plan was botched, Sergeant Lunger tried to stop the officers from any further attempts to enter the hotel room,” says the suit filed by attorneys John Burris and Adante Pointer. But Landreth continued to push the door open and stepped inside with Flores behind him, the complaint says.

Landreth shot McKinney “within seconds” of entering the room, and Flores then shot him two more times as McKinney tried to comply with orders, which prompted Lunger to “run into the room and yell at the officers to stop shooting,” the suit says.

The suit, filed on behalf of McKinney’s siblings — Diane McKinney, Deborah McKinney, Richard McKinney, Jacqueline Taylor and Michael McKinney — names the city of Hayward, Flores and Landreth as defendants and seeks unspecified damages. The defendants have not responded to the suit in court.

Henry K. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @henryklee