MT. JULIET, Tenn. (WTVF) — The family of a man shot by Mt. Juliet police during a traffic stop said they will file a wrongful death lawsuit.
Last November, officers pulled over a car that was driving on S. Mt. Juliet Road around 11 p.m. The video of the incident wasn't released to the public until mid-January. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said an officer spoke with the woman driving the car outside the vehicle, then a second officer went to speak with Eric Jermain Allen, 39, who was in the passenger's seat. In the video, viewers can hear the officer asking Allen to exit the vehicle.
Watch the coverage of this shooting in the player above.
Allen then can be seen moving into the driver's seat and driving away. In the video, you can see the officer initially leans into the car in an attempt to stop him before being taken with the vehicle. The officer is then shown shooting Allen multiple times in an attempt to get him to stop the car. His legal team said he was shot three times.
"It's an important question about this car," attorney Todd Yeary said. "This is where we have to understand how the law operates. An officer isn't allowed to get in your car. Why was the officer inside the car when he had asked Eric Allen to exit the car? As the door is opening, you hear the yelling that creates panic and the officer enters your vehicle. They have to observe a crime is taking place or probable cause. He had neither."
Allen's family and legal team said Allen wasn't being charged with any crime as the passenger in the car, and he and the person driving the vehicle were only stopped for a broken light.
"There was an escalation of intensity on the side of the road that starts when the passenger who has been compliant and is now asked in this environment to exit a vehicle on a dark road, creating the anxiety and response," Yeary said. "It doesn't warrant less lethal force then deadly force. Not shooting once, not shooting twice, but three times. To expect Mr. Allen — having been tazed — to comprehend and comply and use that as a justification to execute him is the reason we are here. Let's be clear. You will hear counter-narratives and rebuttals. We hope the community will be outraged."
Afterward, after the car comes to a stop, the officer attempts to remove Allen, who was unresponsive, from the car. He is laid down in the road where officers begin attempts to perform CPR and resuscitate Allen. Allen was later declared dead on the scene.
The video doesn't show what happened to the woman, who was originally pulled over.
Mt. Juliet police officials said the officer involved in the shooting returned to duty Nov. 30, 2022.
Clayton said he was being detained without putting him in handcuffs.
"Is that the custom that goes on in Mt. Juliet?" attorney Terry Clayton asked. "We keep having situations like Michael Brown and Brianna Taylor. Young men need to leave home and return home to their families. Of course, this isn't something we want to do. We have to hold the police officers responsible for killing young men without any justifiable cause. We are looking at more police violence against African-American men. Young men cannot leave home and not return safely."
The lawsuit about Eric Allen's death will be filed by the end of Monday, his legal team said.
