The wife of a deaf man killed by Monroe County Sheriff's deputies has filed a federal complaint against Sheriff Todd Baxter and the county.
Bonnie Kase called 911 this past August, reporting that her husband Gregory Kase, 62, was mentally ill, suicidal and in crisis at the Super 8 Motel in Henrietta. Responding deputies found Kase naked, exiting the bathroom with a boxcutter, saying he could not hear or understand what they were saying before he is shot.
The complaint filed by attorney Elliot Shields alleges deputies violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. Kase has previously alleged that deputies were not told of her husband’s disability, and a city review of 911 recordings found Kase did not relay that information to dispatchers.
In a phone call, Shields said Kase's shooting represented a complete systemic failure.
"From the initial 911 call all the way through the shooting itself, there were failures at every step," Shields said. "Honestly, I think the video speaks for itself in terms of what the officers did and failed to do when they entered the room. They had their guns drawn. They were incredibly aggressive from before entry, in response to a call for a man that they knew was suicidal and needed help.
In bodyworn camera footage of the incident, Deputy Christopher Piper is seen kicking open the door of Kase's hotel room and calling out to him, after a hotel staffer tells him Kase is in his room with a knife. Piper has his gun drawn. Kase can be heard responding, "I'm right here" from the bathroom.
In the video, Piper repeatedly orders Kase to drop the knife, to which Kase responds, "What?" and "I can't hear you." Piper can be heard saying "Don't do this Greg" as Kase gets out of the bathtub and opens the bathroom door.
When the bathroom door opens, Kase is seen shuffling naked on the tile floor, a boxcutter in his right hand. Three shots are fired at Kase while Piper and Deputy Nichole Gorman were backing through the hotel doorway.
Shields had served the Sheriff's Office with a notice of claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, in August. The Monroe County Sheriff's Office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Shields currently has two other use of force complaints filed against Piper. In one, he is accused of throwing a man through a glass table and tackling him to the ground, causing injury. In another, he is accused of beating a motorcyclist following a pursuit.
The federal lawsuit sets out 12 counts, including disability discrimination, wrongful death, assault and battery.
