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Civil suit delayed involving Norfolk officer who shot and killed a mentally ill man

Posted at 4:25 PM, Mar 22, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-22 17:40:55-04

NORFOLK, Va - Frustration rises after a civil lawsuit trial was delayed.

The lawsuit involves a mentally ill man who was shot and killed by a Norfolk Police Officer.

According to the Norfolk Clerk of Courts, attorneys on both sides were given the wrong names of potential jurors which can be problematic when they are doing research on those individuals.

The clerk takes full responsibility and apologized for the mistake.

The family of 72-year-old Lawrence Faine will have to wait until early October to have the case tried in court.

The family’s attorney Robert Haddad said they are disappointment by the mistrial but more upset that an independent review of this case was never granted by the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office.

“They’re frustrated as can be. They are numb about the reaction that we are getting from the city,” said Haddad.

New video shows part of what happened inside the Calvary Towers on the day of the shooting in June 2014.

Faine was describe by the prosecutor’s report as acting erratic and physically aggressive. His power was shut off after he stopped paying the bills and it states he quit taking his medicine.

In the video you can see officers with a group of community service members and others there to help him but police got called when there were problems with his behavior.

The officer goes down to Faine’s apartment with the property manager.

The prosecutor’s report states Faine had a knife and came at the officer putting his life in danger.

Haddad said there are inconsistencies with statements made the day of the shooting by those involved.

But the Commonwealth’s Attorney found that this shooting was justified and issued a statement Wednesday that read in part:

The June 4, 2014 officer-involved shooting death of Lawrence Faine was thoroughly and professionally investigated and documented by the Norfolk Police Department.  This Office’s ensuing criminal legal review was exhaustive and detailed in a 6 page decision letter dated September 5, 2014 and publicly released at the time,” said Amanda Howie, the Director of Communications for the Office of the Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney, “While the death of Lawrence Faine on June 4, 2014 was tragic, and properly raises for meaningful discussion many societal issues concerning the care and housing of the mentally ill in our community, under the facts and the law of the Commonwealth no criminal prosecution is warranted.

Haddad asked the Norfolk City Council to get involved several months ago after there were discussions about transparency regarding police involved shootings.

Haddan requested an investigation done by State Police for this case, not the Norfolk Police Department.

“Just reopen your investigation, call the State Police down here and let them talk to everybody.  Let's have a fair reading of this and their response was no," said Haddad.

Three years later, the family is waiting for their day in court for a civil suit seeking $2.5 million dollars.

Norfolk Police said both officers involved are back on the streets working.

The officer who fired the shoots underwent an internal investigation and his actions were deemed within policy.