DETROIT, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- Police are "stonewalling" at every turn in a lawsuit in the death of a 7-year-old girl, allegedly shot by a Detroit police officer, an attorney said.
The city wants a protective order to keep secret all documents and depositions in the May 16, 2010, incident, in which a police officer allegedly shot and killed a sleeping Aiyana Stanley-Jones during a raid at the home where she was living, The Detroit News reported Monday.
Geoffrey Fieger, the attorney representing the girl's family, said the city is "stonewalling at every turn" and he said the delays could cause memories to fade, making it difficult to get accurate testimony.
Detroit officials said the city wants a news blackout because a criminal investigation still is under way.
The girl was allegedly shot by officer Joseph Weekly during a raid filmed by the A&E Network reality crime show "The First 48."
Court-authorized questioning of Weekly, who was on sick leave, has been canceled by the city five times, Fieger said. Fieger's suit is also complicated because A&E has refused to release the video that could show exactly what happened.
"We do not believe that Kirkstall Road (the New York-based television production company that recorded the raid) has any obligation to respond to the subpoena and do not believe that the footage and other materials requested is discoverable," the company's lawyer wrote in a letter to Fieger.
Wayne County Circuit Judge Daphne Means Curtis will decide Aug. 26 whether to grant the city's request for a protective order.
