The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday revived a lawsuit against a Greensboro police officer who shot and killed a Black teenager in August 2022.
A district court had dismissed the lawsuit against the city of Greensboro and Officer Matthew Sletten, finding the officer fried his weapon as 17-year-old Nasanto Crenshaw drove “straight towards” him.
But the appeals court partially reversed that decision, ruling that the lawsuit could be dismissed against the city of Greensboro, but the allegations of excessive force and wrongful death against Sletten should be allowed to continue.
The court reviewed body camera footage of the shooting, and said it was unclear whether the car was traveling “directly” at the officer at the time he fired several shots, striking the car’s front windshield once and the car’s passenger side window multiple times.
In addition, Crenshaw was killed by three bullets that hit him on his right side.
“Based on the plaintiff’s allegations, a reasonable officer in Officer Sletten’s position would not think that the stolen car, which was moving away from the officer, posed a significant and immediate threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer that would justify his conduct of firing one shot through the car’s windshield and additional shots through the car’s passenger side window,” the court ruled.
“The facts are clear. Officer Sletten wasn’t in any danger when he shot and killed Nasanto Crenshaw,” attorney for the family Harry Daniels said in a statement. “Hopefully, now Nasanto’s mother gets to have her day in court.”
The Greensboro Police Department and the city of Greensboro did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
