KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth District Tuesday affirmed a lower court's ruling that a Kansas City, Missouri, police officer had qualified and official immunity when he shot and killed Ryan Stokes in 2013.
The Stokes family, including his mother, Narene James, have waged a nearly decade-long legal battle to pursue a wrongful death suit against the KCPD.
Today's ruling could bring that effort to an end.
KCPD officer William Thompson shot and killed Stokes after a foot chase in downtown KCMO.
Thompson saw Stokes run into a parking lot after receiving a police dispatch about a suspected cell phone theft and foot chase, a court document states.
Stokes got into a car and shut the driver's side door and turned to face the officer who had been chasing him, according to the court document.
"What happened next is hotly disputed, but family's side of the story is what matters at this point," today's ruling states.
Thompson saw Stokes raise his hands to his waist and misinterpreted the gesture as threatening.
"Officer Thompson fired without warning at Stokes, who was trying to surrender." the ruling states.
A search found a gun in the car, but the car's owner told police it had been there all night.
A federal court judge in Kansas City later ruled in favor of Thompson on qualified and official immunity.
The appeals court cited cases in today's opinion from other police shootings around the United States.
They found a reasonable officer would not have had "fair notice" that shooting Stokes in those circumstances violated the Fourth Amendment.
In addition, the judges ruled the plaintiffs had not shown Thompson acted in bad faith or with malice.
KSHB 41 reached out to the Stokes family and the family's attorney Tuesday night to see about their next effort in the legal fight.
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