INDIANAPOLIS -- Two years after a high-profile police
brutality case, the family of Brandon Johnson is filing a civil rights lawsuit
in federal court.
The lawsuit names four Indianapolis Metro Police officers
accused of being involved in the beating of then 15-year-old Johnson.
Johnson was injured during the arrest of his younger brother
in May 2010, RTV6's Rafael Sanchez reported.
The officers in
question were no criminally charged, but one of them was recommended to be
terminated by the IMPD Merit Board.
A U.S. Department of Justice investigation found that
Johnson’s civil rights were not “willfully” violated, but his attorney, Stephen
Wagner, thought otherwise.
"People look at this filing of the lawsuit and say
Brandon is trying to get rich, but nothing is farther from the truth. This is
not a $1 million lawsuit. This is a lawsuit to pay back his medical bills, to
pay for his counseling and to pay for him having his rights violated,” Wagner
said.
Johnson’s medical bills are in excess of $10,000, and a settlement
could be reached before the case goes before a jury trial, Wagner said.