Family sues police in killing of mentally ill man

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. -- Relatives of a mentally ill man who was shot and killed during a struggle with police have filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

The suit, which was filed Friday at the Ste. Genevieve courthouse, names Michael Coon, the rookie Ste. Genevieve police officer involved in the Nov. 3 shooting, and Scott Lahay, the sheriff's deputy who accompanied him.

It alleges the men violated Dennis P. Heberlie III's constitutional rights to due process of law and protection from illegal searches and seizures. Heberlie, a 47-year-old paranoid schizophrenic, was unarmed when he was shot in his home.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol's investigative report, Coon tried to talk to Heberlie because he was bothering an 18-year-old gas station attendant. Her boyfriend called police.

Upon being approached, Heberlie jumped into his car and said, "Gotta go."

Though officers lost track of Heberlie in the ensuing chase, Coon tracked him by his license plate to the trailer he shared with his mother outside town.

According to the official account, Heberlie's niece opened the door to the trailer when Coon knocked. Heberlie tried to close the door, but Coon forced it open, and the two men began to struggle in the dark.

Coon told investigators that he fired his .40-caliber Glock semiautomatic pistol because Heberlie had beaten him to the floor and was hovering over him.

The lawsuit, which does not specify any monetary damages, contends that police had no right to enter Heberlie's home and that Coon was not justified in using deadly force against an unarmed man. It also says that Lahay, who did not fire his weapon, "encouraged defendant Coon's entry upon the premises" and knew "that Coon's action constituted a grave and substantial risk of life."

Coon, 33, and Lahay, 30, could not be reached for comment.

Ste. Genevieve Sheriff Gary Stolzer said he was surprised Lahay had been included in the suit.

"I don't know why they would be going after us; we didn't shoot anybody," he said.

Heberlie's relatives also have instructed their lawyer to deliver to Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon a petition demanding that his office file charges against Coon.

Though Nixon described Heberlie's death as "tragic" in a statement released in January, he said his office did not believe that criminal charges could be successfully prosecuted.