Family of Vietnamese student shot dead by US police demands compensation

Tommy Le's family and attorney at a press conference on September 7, announcing their decision to sue the King County Police Department, Washington State Sheriff, and local authorities for violating their son's civil rights and causing his death. Photo: KUOW.

The family of Tommy Le, a Vietnamese-American student living in the suburban city of Burien, King County, Washington, who was shot and killed by police on the night of June 13, is suing the government, the police department, and the county's sheriff, John Urquhart, for $20 million in compensation, local television station KUOW reported.

At a press conference on September 7, an attorney for Tommy Le’s family read a report from the King County Medical Examiner’s Office that showed the 20-year-old died from two gunshot wounds to the back. He was also shot once in the back of his hand.

According to the lawyer, this forensic evidence contradicts the police report that Tommy Le was shot while rushing toward two police officers with a pen in his hand and that the police fired all six shots in self-defense, three of which hit the victim.

"If [Le] was attacking the police, he should have been shot in the chest," Campiche said. "If he was attacking someone else and the police were forced to fire six shots, three of which hit the boy, the remaining shots should have hit the person he was attacking." Tommy was not attacking anyone when he was shot, the lawyer concluded.

Through an interpreter, Tommy Le's mother, Dieu Ho, said that when she learned her son was shot from behind, she felt "even more miserable."

Earlier on the night of June 13, the King County Sheriff’s Department received an emergency call about a subject using a sharp object, possibly a knife, to threaten people near a boulevard in the city of Burien. A nearby resident told the dispatcher that he was forced to fire a warning shot at the subject, later identified as Tommy Le.

When Le approached, the man ran into the house to hide. According to police, Le repeatedly banged on the witness's door and screamed that he was "the Creator."

Police approached Le and asked him to throw "what they thought was a knife" on the ground, King County Sheriff's Sgt. Cindi West said, adding that two officers at the scene used stun guns to subdue Le but were unsuccessful.

Police officer Cesar Molina shot Tommy Le three times and the young man was taken to the hospital but died from his injuries.

A week after the incident, King County police concluded that the sharp object they thought was the murder weapon was actually a pen.

The subsequent investigation found no drugs or stimulants in Tommy Le's system. The family said their son had no history of mental illness.

The victim's aunt, Ms. Xuyen Le, suspects this was a case of racial discrimination.

"If Tommy had a different skin color, would the police have shot him?", Ms. Le said.

According to VNE