Lawsuit filed by family of man killed in Jersey City mental health episode

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (PIX11) -- He'd had a mental health episode and died after police showed up in response and shot him.

Andrew Washington's family has filed a lawsuit against the police department that responded to his home last year. Also named in the legal action is the mayor of Jersey City, responsible for the city's law enforcement, the individual officers, and the medical center the family had first called to respond to Washington's crisis. 

Bodycam video from the incident, which happened on Aug. 27, 2023, shows that a Jersey City Police Department emergency services unit came to Washington's apartment with guns and Tasers drawn and holding up protective shields. 

On the other side of the door they faced was Washington, 52, alone. The bodycam video captures him yelling at police, who ask him to come to the door. 

According to the Washington Family in the lawsuit filed on Wednesday, the interaction never had to happen. 

"We did everything right," said Courtnie Washington, Andrew's sister, who goes by the name Drew, according to the family.  

"We called for help," she continued, "and instead of sending help, they sent armed police officers, who broke down his door and killed him."

Courtnie Washington is officially listed as the plaintiff in the legal filing as the family's representative. She said that having a fully armed police unit respond intensified Drew Washington's mental crisis rather than de-escalating it.

That, in turn, prompted police to breach Drew Washington's door, the lawsuit alleges. 

When one of the officers kicks in the door, as seen in the bodycam video, he alerts the other responding cops that Washington has a knife. It's visible in the video.

The officers instruct him, "Drop the knife! Drop the knife!" as he heads through the doorway in their direction. Gunfire is heard, along with Taser blasts. Washington falls to the floor. Officers' orders telling him not to move indicate that he's still alive. They called for EMTs who'd responded to the call to come and administer aid.

Washington died at the hospital after the incident. 

His family and their attorney, Amelia Green, said that everything captured in the bodycam video shows officers acting in ways that endangered an innocent man's life. 

"He was not an immediate threat to himself or anyone else," said Green. 

"Nothing had changed when the police were there, the entire time the police were there," she continued in an interview, "to precipitate them legally entering his apartment, when he was alone in his own home, asking the police to leave."

Courtnie Washington, Drew's sister, said the lawsuit is necessary because of what happened a year earlier. 

"There isn't anything that will bring us Drew back," she said, "but at least we can be his voice in this moment. He didn't do anything wrong."

The family seeks a jury trial and damages that would ultimately be determined at trial. 

For its part, the Jersey City government stated a spokesperson:

"Any loss of life saddens us," it begins. "However, we cannot comment on active litigation."

Jersey City Medical Center, which is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, issued a similar statement:

"As this case is now in active litigation, the health system is unable to provide comment."