Trial date pushed in Alton Sterling wrongful death lawsuit

BATON ROUGE, La. – A new trial date has been set in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a black man killed by a white police officer in Louisiana’s capital city four years ago.

The suit, filed by the children of Alton Sterling, will go to court on March 1, 2021, unless a settlement is reached, news outlets reported.

The trial was set in 2018 for April 20, 2020, but was pushed back by state District Judge William Morvant late last month over a number of developments, including changes in the judge presiding over the case, an appeal pending before the state Supreme Court and a hold on trials until June 30 amid the coronavirus pandemic, The Advocate reported.

In 2017, Sterling’s family sued the city of Baton Rouge, its police department and former police chief and the two officers involved in the July 2016 struggle in which officer Blane Salamoni shot Sterling six times outside a convenience store. The lawsuit alleges the shooting fit a pattern of racist behaviour and excessive force by police.

Salamoni was not criminally charged but was fired by Baton Rouge’s police chief.