TROY - Attorneys in a federal lawsuit filed by the widow of a Watervliet man who was fatally shot by a Troy police sergeant are seeking to unseal the minutes of a Rensselaer County grand jury that cleared the officer of wrongdoing.

A U.S. magistrate judge overseeing the federal lawsuit recently approved the attorneys' request to pursue the unsealing. The request was made by attorneys for the city of Troy and attorneys for the widow of Edson Thevenin, who was killed in the April 2016 shooting.

It's unclear whether the grand jury minutes will be made public if a Rensselaer County judge allows them to be unsealed. The lawyers in the federal lawsuit also have asked for a ballistics report prepared by the office of state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman as part of its ongoing investigation of Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel E. Abelove's handling of the shooting case.

The ballistics report examined the trajectory of the eight rounds fired by the officer who opened fire on the vehicle of Thevenin. Police officials said the officer, Sgt. Randall French, began shooting when his legs were pinned between Thevenin's vehicle and his patrol car. They said Thevenin was not armed but used his vehicle as a weapon.

Schneiderman's investigation is examining whether French was in imminent danger when he opened fire. The attorney general also is investigating Abelove's decision to rush the case before a grand jury that cleared the Troy officer of wrongdoing less than five days after the shooting.

Schneiderman criticized Abelove for taking the case to a grand jury at a time when the attorney general's office was examining it. Two civilians who witnessed the shooting and called into question the account of the incident by police were not subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury that cleared French.

Schneiderman obtained approval to convene a special grand jury on Sept. 20 that is investigating the district attorney's actions. The panel began hearing testimony last week from Troy police officers.

It's the first time Schneiderman's office has empaneled a grand jury to investigate a sitting district attorney since Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an order in 2015 giving the attorney general authority to intervene in cases in which unarmed civilians are killed during confrontations with police.

The Times Union reported last year that Abelove did not require French to sign an immunity from prosecution waiver when the officer testified before the grand jury that cleared him.

The federal lawsuit was filed against French and the city of Troy on behalf of Thevenin's widow, Cinthia, and the couple's two sons. The complaint alleges civil rights violations, including assault and battery, claiming that French was not in imminent danger when he opened fire.

The shooting took place about 3:15 a.m. on April 17, 2016, on Hoosick Street near the Collar City Bridge. Thevenin was shot after his vehicle was boxed in by two police cruisers following a chase that police said began when he fled a DWI traffic stop.

Abelove's office issued a statement less than a week after the shooting saying a grand jury reviewed evidence in the shooting and found no wrongdoing.

"Specifically, the grand jury found that Sergeant Randall French's use of deadly physical force was justifiable under the law," the statement from Abelove's office said. "The grand jury considered the evidence and has passed on charging Sergeant French with any crime relating to the death of Edson Thevenin."

Schneiderman's office said it had not been notified of Abelove's intention to present the case to a grand jury. Schneiderman's office then accused Abelove of doing an "end run" around the executive order the governor signed giving Schneiderman authority to investigate fatal encounters between police and unarmed civilians.