The widow of an unarmed man shot by a San Antonio police officer has sued the department, the city and the officer.

Lawyer Thomas J. Henry filed the suit late Friday on behalf of Elena Scott, who is representing the estate of Antronie Scott. The federal suit alleges his civil rights were violated and claims the San Antonio Police Department’s policies are deficient.

SAPD referred questions to the city attorney’s office, which said it had not seen the lawsuit and it was too early to comment.

Antronie Scott, 36, was shot and killed Feb. 4 by SAPD officer John Lee as police pulled Scott over outside an apartment complex in the 10600 block of Sahara. Scott was followed to the area by undercover officers because he was wanted on felony warrants of drug possession and being a felon in possession of a weapon, police have said.

Police said the undercover officers called for uniformed officers to pull Scott over. After he was pulled over, Lee said he was walking up to Scott’s car and told him to “show me your hands.” The officer also said Scott got out of his car about the same time with something in his hand that the officer thought was a gun and Lee shot him. Scott did not have a weapon; he had a cellphone in his hand.

The suit says Scott tried to comply with the officer’s instruction and began to exit the vehicle, did not pose a threat or act in a threatening manner, but was shot in the chest. He died at the scene, despite Lee’s efforts to revive him.

“Defendant officer’s acts amount to an excessive, unjustified and unnecessary use of force,” the suit said. “Said excessive, unjustified and unnecessary use of force was objectively unreasonable, as no reasonable police officer and/or law enforcement officer given the same or similar circumstances would have initiated such a vicious and unwarranted attack on Mr. Scott within a second of directing Mr. Scott to show his hands.”

The suit also says the department’s policy and procedure manual gives vague and conflicting instructions to officers on when and under what circumstances force, including deadly force, can be used.

“This policy allows for an officer to skip the increasingly forceful methods to subdue a suspect and determine in his own judgment the quickest method to bring a situation under control, even if that method would be deadly force against a suspect,” the suit says. “These policies, among others, led to the shooting of Mr. Scott at a time when there was no immediate threat to the life of the officer in violation of his constitutional rights.”

The suit points out that Police Chief William McManus has said the policy needs to be “re-engineered” so officers are trained to know when deadly force should be used.

The suit also says it’s apparent that the training provided to SAPD officers “on how they communicate with citizens and how they react when citizens are following their instructions is deficient and leads to the tragic deaths of citizens who are trying to comply with an officer’s commands.”

The suit seeks compensatory damages, including funeral costs, punitive damages and attorneys’ fees and costs.

Scott was buried over the weekend.

gcontreras@express-news.net

Twitter: @gmaninfedland