Lawsuit filed over fatal police shooting of woman near mall

DEARBORN (AP) — A lawsuit seeking more than $10 million has been filed against a Detroit suburb and a police officer, nearly seven months after a  woman was killed near a shopping mall.

The family of Janet Wilson, 31, says she was the victim of excessive force last Jan. 27. Police say Wilson was shot in her car after fleeing from Fairlane shopping mall.

Police said shots were fired because officers feared Wilson would run them over with her car, a Chevrolet HHR. 

But the lawsuit, filed recently in federal court, claims Wilson was not a threat to officers or the public.

The lawsuit says Officer James Wade had been reprimanded months earlier for aggressive tactics at the mall. He’s been on leave since the shooting.