Benjamin Shotts, has filed a lawsuit against the city of Taylor and the officer involved, Savante Warren, after being shot during a training exercise for Taylor’s auxiliary police department.
According to the lawsuit initially filed in Wayne County Circuit Court and later transferred to the federal Eastern District of Michigan, Officer Warren was supposed to use a training pistol during the April 2022 exercise. However, he allegedly switched it for a live, loaded weapon, leading to the injury of Benjamin Shotts.
Shotts, a civilian volunteer role-playing in the “vehicle take-down” training, suffered injuries to his abdomen, pelvis, and left hip as a result of the incident. The lawsuit accuses Officer Warren of negligence, asserting that his actions were objectively unreasonable and constituted gross negligence.
The lawsuit also implicates the police supervisor, whose name remains unknown, responsible for checking the handguns to ensure they were unloaded during the exercise. Shotts alleges that the Downriver community failed to conduct a meaningful investigation into how Warren entered the training with a loaded personal firearm.
City officials deferred the investigation to the Michigan State Police, who are yet to respond to inquiries about the status of the investigation. Taylor’s director of marketing and communications, Karl Ziomek, refrained from commenting on pending litigation.
The city took swift action following the incident, suspending its auxiliary police program, a suspension that will persist until the results of the state police investigation are received, according to Ziomek.
Benjamin Shotts is seeking $25,000 in damages, underlining the gravity of the incident and the repercussions it has had on his well-being. As the legal proceedings unfold, the case highlights the importance of diligence and accountability in police training exercises to prevent such tragic incidents from occurring.
