Garrett Mitchell

The Republic | azcentral.com

The parents of an unarmed Texas man killed in a fatal police shooting nearly a year ago have filed a civil lawsuit against Mesa, the fired officer who killed Daniel Shaver and his commanding officer.

The parents of Daniel Shaver, a Texas man who was killed by police on Jan. 18, 2016, filed a wrongful-death and gross-negligence complaint in Maricopa County Superior Court on Tuesday.

The complaint from Norma and Grady Shaver asks for unspecified general and punitive damages. It alleges that former Mesa police officer Philip "Mitch" Brailsford and his commanding officer, Sgt. Charles Langley, intended to cause Shaver harm in an unjustified shooting.

Sven Budge, the Shavers' local attorney, filed the civil complaint against Brailsford, the city of Mesa and multiple unidentified city employees.

Laney Sweet, Shaver's widow, has filed a $35 million notice of claim against the city of Mesa, but a lawsuit has not yet been filed.

Brailsford also faces a criminal charge of second-degree murder filed by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. He was fired by the Mesa Police Department.

Shaver, 26, was killed Jan. 18 after police were called to a La Quinta Inn & Suites on a report about a man waving a weapon from his hotel window. Officers approached Shaver's room on the fifth floor. After he emerged, an unarmed Shaver sat on his knees begging police, "Please don't shoot me," seconds before Brailsford opened fire, striking Shaver five times after he made a movement with his hands near his waistband.

In the criminal case, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge denied the defense's challenge to continuing the case in November.

A three-week trial window for the case is expected to be set, possibly for late 2017, at the next scheduled pretrial conference, now set for Feb. 10.

The Shavers, who previously attended a two-day preliminary hearing in May, filed the civil suit separate from any action by Sweet, their daughter-in-law. The three previously had disagreed over body-camera footage of the 26-year-old's death being publicly released.

Budge said Tuesday that for privacy reasons, the couple do not want their son's death further publicized. Keeping key portions of the video under seal also would minimize risks for the county attorney to successfully prosecute the case, Budge said.

Sweet has fought for the release of the footage. Her attorneys filed a petition with the Arizona Supreme Court to release the contested footage of the fatal shooting. A previous, similar request to the Arizona Court of Appeals asking for "unobstructed and unconditional access" to the video was denied in September.

The Shavers' civil suit

A notice of claim against Mesa including an amount for which the Shavers would settle was served and filed with the city clerk in March 2016, and the Shavers have not received a response to the claim, Budge said in Tuesday's filing.

"The conduct of officers Brailsford and Langley was engaged in with intent to cause injury, was wrongful conduct motivated by spite or ill will or the officers acted to serve their own interests, having reason to know and consciously disregarding a substantial risk that their conduct might significantly injure the rights of or cause the death of Daniel," the complaint stated. "The officers consciously pursued a course of conduct knowing that it created a substantial risk of significant harm to Daniel."

It also stated that the city of Mesa permitted dangerous policies with respect to the use of force and failing to appropriately supervise its employees, among other allegations.

"As a result of the Defendants' negligence, his Parents, as Daniel's survivors, have been deprived of the continued companionship and society of their son and have suffered and will continue to suffer in the future a loss of love, affection, companionship, care, protection, guidance, as well as pain, grief, sorrow, anguish, stress, shock and, mental suffering," the complaint stated.

Budge said the Shavers had long planned to file a civil lawsuit. They continue to take their son's death "day by day," the attorney said.

Budge said they hope for a criminal conviction in what he described as a reckless, unjustified shooting.

"They want to see justice for their son. And they want to move on," Budge said.