Judge dismisses lawsuit against Miami cops who killed mentally ill man

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit on Friday against two Miami police officers who shot and killed a mentally ill black man last year.

The lawsuit, filed by the family of 25-year-old Lavall Hall, contended that the officers needlessly resorted to gunfire when they attempted to subdue Hall, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. The suit accused the officers of wrongful death and violating Hall's civil rights.

Earlier this year, Miami-Dade County prosecutors ruled that Officer Eddo Trimino was "justified" in his use of deadly force against Hall.

The incident took place in February 2015. Hall's mother called the police to request help with her son, who was experiencing a psychotic episode. She told the 911 dispatcher that she and her family were in their bedroom "hiding" from Hall. When Trimino and another officer arrived, they encountered Hall standing barefoot in his underwear in the middle of the street.

Hall was holding a metal-tipped broomstick, and reportedly hit one of the officers "five or six times on the top of the head in an overhead motion, as if chopping wood," the federal judge wrote in his decision Friday, according to the Miami Herald.

In a video of the incident, an officer can be heard shouting "get on the fucking ground or you're dead," before shooting at Hall five times. Footage from another angle shows Hall running away from the police before being shot.

The second officer, Peter Ehrlich, was hospitalized and required stitches after the incident, the Herald reported. Both officers said they used Tasers on Hall before shooting.

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