Family Of Charles Hill Sues BART, And They've Got Oscar Grant's Attorney

By Andrew Dalton on Jan 26, 2012

BART_Powell_shooting_vid.jpg The family of Charles Hill, the "wobbly drunk" homeless man shot and killed by BART police last July has filed a civil suit against BART seeking monetary damages for the incident. According to the Examiner's report on the filing, Oakland attorney John Burris will be representing Hill's next of kin. Burris, anti-BART PD readers might remember, successfully secured nearly $3 million in damages for Oscar Grant's mother and daughter in the wrongful death case that followed the trial of BART police officer Johannes Mehserle.

The suit alleges that BART officers James Cromwell and Myron Lee overreacted by shooting Hill, who had been drinking and wobbling on the train platform, after he threw a small knife at Cromwell, missing him by a "large margin." The Hill family is seeking "general damages, compensation for future wage loss, funeral and burial expenses, attorney fees and punitive damages" in the death of their transient relative.

Previously: All Charles Hill shooting coverage on SFist
[SFEx]

Contact the author of this article or email tips@sfist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

Filed in and tagged , , , , ,

Comments [rss]

  • RazorSheldon
    You throw a knife at a cop, you get shot. Period.
  • Ulik Upravdom
    That's complete and utter BS. I truly hope Bart officers continue doing their job and clean up the Bart system from all the scum. But with such turnarounds, they will be unwilling to even patrol the stations. I would never patrol anything if I knew I couldn't use my weapon when some freak attacks me. I thought that was the whole point of having police in the first place. But wait, we're all so liberal. Overused liberalism leads to the huge failure. Just wait and see. Welcome to the state of anarchy, my friends!
  • pchazzz
    The problem is massive police overreactions to the mildest provocations by people who suffer from borderline mental illness which results in their injury and death. Situations that could be defused are needlessly escalated by police whose first instinct is to maim or kill. Police are given weapons far in excess of what is appropriate for keeping the peace. Often the victims of police assaults are black or Latino which has resulted in civil rights lawsuits. So bear in mind that the people you deride as scum are someone's father or brother. If you lost your job and suffered financial and personal reverses it could even be you.
  • Oh, so NOW he's got a family?
blog comments powered by Disqus