Attorney Kevin Adams speaks to reporters during a press conference about the officer-involved shooting death of 16-year-old Logan Simpson on July 26, 2018. DYLAN GOFORTH/The Frontier
A lawsuit was filed Friday on behalf of a 16-year-old Bixby boy who was shot by a police officer who apparently mistakenly believed the teen was driving a stolen car.
Logan Simpson, 16, was killed in July following a dispute at his family’s home in Bixby. Neither the Bixby Police Department or the City of Bixby have offered much comment on the case, but Simpson’s family has said the teen was attacked by a person named Deante Strickland, who then attacked Simpson’s older brother with an ax. Police were called, but before they arrived Logan Simpson drove away from the home in the family vehicle.
Unsure who took the vehicle, Simpson’s family asked Strickland, who they said replied “My homeboy.” The family then told police the vehicle had been stolen. The lawsuit states the family discovered it was Simpson who had taken the vehicle and told officers at the scene who “did nothing to cancel the stolen vehicle call that went out over the radio.”
An officer, who has not yet been named by the Bixby Police Department but is identified in the lawsuit as Jon Little, spotted the vehicle and cornered Simpson on a dead end road.
Simpson reached the end of the road and turned around, driving in the direction of the officer who had exited his vehicle.
The lawsuit alleges that Little “opened fire” into the driver’s side door of the vehicle and then continued firing as Simpson drove past.
“Not only did Little shoot Logan Simpson through the driver’s side door, he continued to shoot at the vehicle as it drove away,” the lawsuit states”Officer Little even fired multiple rounds into the rear of the vehicle.”
Simpson was at least the 22nd person killed by Oklahoma law enforcement this year.
Kevin Adams, attorney for the Simpson family, said during a press conference in July that he believed the officer who shot Simpson should be charged with a crime and said he was hopeful that the district attorney would eventually agree, noting Kunzweiler has charged other officers with crimes for on-duty shootings in the past.
“The bottom line,” Adams said during the press conference, “is that Logan’s mother called for help, and help killed her son.”
Fatal officer-involved shootings
January
1. Jonathan William Leroy, 39.
2. Geraldine Townsend, 72.
3. Jonathan Duane Atchley, 37.
4. Joseph E. Knight, 40.
5. Ricky Leon Rusche, 40.
February
6. William Patrick Young, 56.
7. Paul Strickland, 55.
8. Haydon Taylor, 26.
March
9. Mark Allen Lunn, 47.
10. Duane Preciado, 39.
11. John Domingues, 31
12. Jason Birt, 27.
April
13. Deshawn Carswell, 35.
14. James Rogers, 34
15. Justin Monjay, 39.
May
16. Franklin Robert Vaughn, 39.
17. Albert Odom, 26.
18. Bradley Daniel Webster, 53.
19. Daniel Timothy Johnson, 34.
June
20. Julio Hernandez Mata, 32.
July
21. Millard Clark Jr., 41.
22 Logan Simpson, 16.
August
23. Chris Stone, 32.
