A federal judge says he won't dismiss a civil rights lawsuit filed against a former Ball State University police officer by the family of a student who was fatally shot by the officer. U-S District Judge Richard Young refused yesterday to reconsider his previous order allowing the wrongful death lawsuit against Robert Duplain to go to trial. A Delaware County grand jury cleared Duplain of any wrongdoing in the 2003 shooting, but the family of 21-year-old Mike McKinney filed a 100 (m) million dollar civil rights lawsuit. Duplain's attorneys asked Young to dismiss the suit, arguing that he had used reasonable force and had qualified immunity as a police officer. Young ruled that expert witnesses could provide testimony that McKinney did not charge at Duplain before he was shot. |
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