Michael Brown's family fights Ferguson push for his records

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Michael Brown's parents are objecting to a request from Ferguson, Missouri, for their son's medical and academic records as the city defends itself against a lawsuit the parents filed over the 2014 police shooting death of the unarmed 18-year-old.

Michael Brown Sr. and Lezley McSpadden, in December court filings, asked U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber in St. Louis to limit if not scuttle altogether a push by the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, its former police chief and the officer who shot their son to turn over the documents.

The parents said the documents are irrelevant and the repeated demands for them are harassing and invasive.

Brown's parents argue in their lawsuit the death of their son during an August 2014 confrontation with Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson deprived them of financial support through his future potential wages.

A lawyer for Ferguson, Wilson and the former police chief have countered in court filings Brown's lifelong medical records are pertinent to determining his potential life expectancy and future income.

In her 2016 book, "Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil," McSpadden acknowledged her son had high blood pressure, headaches, impaired vision and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

In court filings rebuffing the push for all of her son's medical records, Brown's parents said his afflictions "have no bearing on a person's life expectancy."

"Although (the lawsuit's defendants) are admittedly entitled to some discovery regarding (Brown's) physical health, any and all medical records spanning his entire lifetime is overly broad in scope and time and vague," the family's filing read.