Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Trial date set for Russell family lawsuit against City of Joplin

A February 8, 2016, trial date has been scheduled for the lawsuit filed by Kevin, Julissa, and Brant Rursell against the city of Joplin and police officers Austin Wolf and Tyler Christiansen for events that took place following the March 17, 2013, suicide of Brooke Russell.

Brooke Russell, a Joplin High School student, was the daughter of Kevin and Julissa Russell and the sister of Brant Russell.

According to the schedule filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, both sides will have until June 30, 2015, to complete discovery, July 31, 2015, for dispositive motions, and the pre-trial conference is scheduled for January 14, 2016.

The Russells filed an 11-count, amended lawsuit against the City of Joplin and police officers Austin Wolf and Tyler Christiansen July 8, citing the officers for malicious prosecution, false arrest, using excessive force, and negligence and citing the city of Joplin for its policies, practices, and procedures.

Kevin Russell recently wrote on Facebook that he has consented to an interview with the ABC news magazine 20/20 about the alleged mistreatment that took place after they discovered Brooke, the victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, in a Joplin park.

More information about the lawsuit can be found at this link.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Joy Behar on line two, Mr. Russell

Inside Carthage said...

I believe what the Russells say in their claim and hope beyond hope they see justice.

Anonymous said...

Please hold. On line three we have a Mrs Nancy Grace. Shall I ask her to hold?

Anonymous said...

It's a shame the system goes so slow. The actions of the police and EMTs, goes beyond comprehension, good luck to the Russell's , I hope they find some peace.

Anonymous said...

I lived in Joplin at the time and this was a huge deal when it happened. That girl and her family were well known and liked in the community and the way they were treated at that horrible time in their life is completely disgusting. Although this is the worst case that I am aware of this is definitely not the first case of the JPD going way out of bounds.

I think this speaks to the general attitude that the "authorities" now have in this country, Combining their already nasty attitude towards civilians with the almost constant federal push towards militarization leads me to fear some unnatural form of fascism/socialism may come to control this country in the coming 10-20 years.