Family of man killed by DeKalb County police to file lawsuit against county
Lawsuit alleges DeKalb County Police violated ADA
The family of a man who was shot and killed by DeKalb County Police plans to take action against the county. Loved ones of Matthew Zadok Williams announced they're filing a lawsuit over the 2021 incident. The family says Williams suffered from a mental health crisis.
DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - The family of a man who was shot and killed in 2021 by officers with the DeKalb County police say they plan to announce a lawsuit against the county Friday.
The shooting happened around 6 p.m. on April 12, 2021, in the 2500 block of Terrace Trail. DeKalb County police said officers responded to a call about a man aggressively wielding a knife.
Investigators said the officers arrived and saw 35-year-old Matthew Zadok Williams, who was still in possession of the knife. The body cam video shows Williams come at an officer with a knife in his hand, then police shot at him. The footage shows that Williams then went back into the house and officers fired at him again.
In the body camera footage, Sgt. Devon Perry is heard pleading with Williams to surrender.
"Please, sir. I’m begging you. I’m a Black man, you’re a Black man. You don’t have to die today. I don’t want you to die today," Perry says.
His family said was he having a mental health crisis and they wish the police would have instead gotten him help.
"We have had the displeasure of looking at over 10 hours of body camera footage and nothing in that footage shows that Sergeant Perry should have shot into my brother’s home," Hannah Williams told FOX 5 in 2021.
A doctor hired by Williams's family said he would likely be alive today if officers aided him after they shot him.
While the family and activists said Perry violated police policies that day, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announced in 2022 that she would not file charges against the officer.
Boston said the officer has "no criminal culpability" and called the use of force "justified" in the shooting.
"It is no less a tragedy or heartbreaking," Boston said. "A life has been lost and for that we extend our deepest condolences to the family."
The family's lawsuit alleges that DeKalb County violated the Americans with Disabilities Act in the events leading up to William's death.
The family will hold a press conference at 10:30 a.m. Friday discussing why they filed the lawsuit.