Jury awards family of Black man killed by Detroit police $1.5 million

A federal jury has awarded the family of a Black Detroit man who was shot and killed by Detroit police officers in October 2018 more than $1.5 million in damages after the family filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

Lamont Johnson, 44, was shot and killed by Detroit officers Tyler Nagy and Raul Martinez in October 2018.

Johnson's family filed the wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Detroit, Nagy and Martinez in October 2020, alleging Detroit police used excessive force when they shot and killed Johnson.

The $1.5 million in damages is broken down to $4,800 for funeral expenses, $100,000 for conscious pain and suffering, $420,000 for lost wages, $86,000 for medical expenses and $900,000 for past and future loss of society and companionship. The jury gave their award March 15 in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan.

Detroit police said the officers involved were found to have acted within department policy, and remain employed. Nagy has been with DPD since 2016 and was promoted to sergeant in 2022. Martinez has been with the department since 2017.

“A comprehensive internal investigation into officers’ actions revealed no policy violations,” Detroit police said in a statement. “Accordingly, the officers continue to work for the DPD. While the department respects the jurors' work in this matter, we ultimately disagree with their findings.  It is our understanding that the City of Detroit will be appealing this decision."

The Detroit Police Officers Association union gave honors to Nagy and Martinez in May 2019 for "display(ing) heroic actions by preventing a violent man from harming his victims or any other innocent citizens." In the union pamphlet about the honorees, it said Johnson "removed his .32-caliber pistol from his waistband and started to raise it." This is not supported by body camera footage, according to the lawsuit.

Johnson, who had traffic violations but no criminal record, was stopped by police after he pulled a knife on a friend and threatened him with a handgun, according to a joint pretrial order that laid out the arguments in the case. No one was hurt and the gun was never fired, according to the order. He left to bike home, and the friends called police to say Johnson tried to stab him.

Martinez and Nagy went on foot to find Johnson, who was walking alongside his bike, as he was likely too intoxicated to ride it, according to the order. They saw him and began yelling for him to show his hands, but did not identify themselves as police.

Johnson froze, then the officers fatally shot him less than three seconds later, according to the pretrial order.

Defense attorneys said Martinez and Nagy had received information that Johnson was armed and had assaulted three people, according to court records. They said the officers gave several commands to show his hands, which Johnson did not follow, and they said he reached into his front waistband. They shot him when they feared for their safety, according to the pretrial order.

"The officers claim that Lamont was going for a gun in his waistband. However, their version is completely contradicted by the officer's body cam films which show Lamont never moved," according to the pretrial order. "He did not have time to comply with their commands by raising his hands or to go for a gun. 2.5-3 seconds would not have been enough time for him to perceive what was even happening, and then react by either raising his hands or going for a gun. In his intoxicated state, most assuredly all he saw were lights in his eyes and men screaming at him for the 2-5-3 seconds before being shot."

Body camera footage shows Johnson did not move his arms from the time Nagy and Martinez spotted him to when he was shot, according to the lawsuit.

kberg@detroitnews.com