Ahmaud Arbery’s Mother Files Civil Rights Lawsuit On Death Anniversary

One year after his tragic death, Ahmaud Arbery‘s mother Wanda Cooper-Jones has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that her son’s civil rights were violated.

Details on the Ahmaud Arbery lawsuit

The suit also claims that law enforcement officials worked to protect those who killed her son.

Cooper-Jones, through her attorney S. Lee Merritt, filed the suit on Tuesday in the Southern District of Georgia and seeks more than $1 million in damages, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

The suit names the three men suspected of murdering Arbery, Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and William Bryan, but also includes more than a dozen law enforcement officers, former Glynn County District Attorney Jackie Johnson and Ware County District Attorney George Barnhill.

“They unfairly and prejudicially targeted the Black man who was seen enter entering a property that many people were entering, they imputed criminality on [Arbery]. And they had the opportunity to avoid this from happening to tell citizens that it is not appropriate to engage in vigilantism,” Merritt told First Coast News.

“We wanted to let the [family] know that the community, their attorneys, the legal system is still going to be held accountable and that we’re still fighting for them a year later.”

Killed while jogging

Arbery, 25, was jogging through the Georgia neighborhood on Feb. 23, 2020, when the McMichaels jumped into a pickup truck and chased him down — claiming they believed him to be a burglary suspect.

Bryan jumped into his truck and joined the chase, at one point hitting Arbery with the vehicle to try to trap him, according to police.

When the McMichaels cut off Arbery, Travis McMichael got out of the truck with a shotgun and shot Arbery after a brief struggle.

The case sat dormant for months, with prosecutors declining to file charges.

Bryan filmed the chase and fatal encounter on his mobile phone. When the video was leaked to the public the case drew widespread outrage.

State prosecutors then moved in and took over the case, charging all three men, who are awaiting trial on murder charges in the case.

The federal lawsuit seeks a total of $10 million in damages.