The family of a 15-year-old boy who was fatally shot by New Bedford police in 2012 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Police Department and the city, according to a lawyer for the plaintiffs.
Malcolm Gracia’s family filed a civil complaint Monday in Bristol Superior Court, said their attorney, Donald A. Brisson. New Bedford police said no one was available to comment on Monday night.
Mayor Jon Mitchell noted that the Bristol district attorney’s office determined that the officers who shot Gracia acted in self-defense, “and from my perspective as a former federal prosecutor, I agree.”
He said the city took steps after the shooting to improve police relations with minority communities, and “I believe we’ve made a lot of progress in facilitating communication, and we’re better off as a city some three years later.”
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According to Brisson, the family of Gracia, who was shot on the night of May 17, 2012, near the Temple Landing housing development, alleges the teenager was wrongfully detained at the beginning of his encounter with police and that his fatal shooting was not justified.
The family also wants a judge to halt police from “implementing their stop and frisk program, which led to this whole incident in the first place.”
In July of 2012, the district attorney’s office ruled the shooting was justified and found that Gracia stabbed Detective Tyson Barnes several times and refused commands to drop a knife as he ran toward another detective.
Police opened fire and shot Gracia twice in the lower back, once in the upper back, and in the head, an autopsy found.
According to prosecutors’ report on the shooting, Gracia, whom authorities described as mentally ill, was seen on surveillance video exchanging what “appeared to be a gang handshake” with another youth, and that when detectives approached them, the youths tensed up and walked away.
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After a chase, the report found, Barnes caught Gracia and grabbed him by the shoulders, and the teen removed a hunting knife and stabbed Barnes in the chest, abdomen, and arm.
Brisson said Gracia, like any citizen, had a right to decline to speak to police and begin moving away. He said officers then “chased him down” and “guided him to the ground,” but he ran again.
There was a third and final encounter, Brisson said, when Barnes caught up to Gracia, “that [caused] Malcolm to take out a knife and do what he did. I’m real curious as to why that encounter with Barnes was different.”
Mitchell said Grisson’s description of a city police “stop and frisk” policy is misleading. He said New Bedford officers approach people on the street to gather information, and they must adhere to “constitutional bounds” when doing so.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.