Jim Walsh

@jimwalsh_cp

CAMDEN - The mother of a man killed in a police shooting can seek to hold Atlantic City liable for his death, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Rodriguez in Camden ruled Ruby Conde had brought a "plausible claim" that a municipal "policy or custom" was a "moving force" behind any civil rights violations during the December 2012 shooting of her 18-year-old son, Derreck Mack.

Mack was shot when he attempted to flee Atlantic City police responding to a report of someone with a concealed weapon near Baltic Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard, Rodriguez noted in his ruling.

“Mack stopped running and signaled surrender by raising his arms in the air, although Mack’s back continued to face the officers,” Rodriguez said. The opinion said Officer John Smith fired three times, striking Mack twice in the back.

Police provided no medical assistance and did not call an ambulance, wrote the judge, who noted officers also “prevented a nurse from assisting Mack.”

Rejecting a request that he dismiss a claim against Atlantic City, Rodriguez said Conde could argue the municipality failed to adequately train or discipline its police officers “despite knowledge that some of its police officers previously and continuously engaged in unlawful conduct.”

He also said Conde could argue the city had not properly trained its officers on the use of deadly force "and the protocol for providing medical attention to persons in custody who have sustained a gunshot wound.”

Jim Walsh; (856) 486-2646; jwalsh@gannettnj.com



