CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday in the appeal surrounding the fatal shooting of Danquirs Franklin back in 2019. The lawsuit over the police killing of Franklin may be heard by a jury after all.
Franklin died on March 25, 2019, after being shot by CMPD officer Wende Kerl outside the Burger King on Beatties Ford Road during an armed robbery attempt. When Kerl arrived, he reportedly found Franklin outside, kneeling next to a car with a person inside. Kerl ordered Franklin to drop his weapon multiple times before opening fire when she perceived a threat, according to police.
CMPD released the body camera footage to the public the following month amid mounting pressure from the Charlotte community.
No criminal charges were filed against Kerl as the Mecklenburg County District Attorney's Office said they, "could not prove to a jury that Officer Kerl's perception that the presence, motion, and position of the gun posed an imminent threat to her, Officer Deal, and T.G. was unreasonable beyond a reasonable doubt."
A wrongful death lawsuit was filed in 2020 by the family of Franklin but was dismissed in November 2021.
"The Court concludes in the qualified immunity analysis that Officer Kerl’s use of force was reasonable, and not excessive," U.S. District Court Judge Graham Mullen wrote in his filing Friday.
Over time, Kerl's actions have been controversial and disputed by different reviewing agencies.
In Feb. 2020, Charlotte's Citizen Review Board voted unanimously that CMPD should not have deemed the deadly shooting of Danquirs Franklin "justified."
"A preponderance of the evidence in the case demonstrated that CMPD clearly erred in finding the fatal shooting of Danquirs Franklin justified during their review," Julian Wright, counsel to the Charlotte Citizen Review Board (CRB), wrote at the time.
But Charlotte's Citizen Review Board can only advise and has no legal authority to overrule decisions.
Arguments were made to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals from both sides of Franklin's case in December 2022. It was on Tuesday when the court released that despite the lower court granting Kerl immunity, the appeals court felt Kerl was "not entitled to immunity."