Wrongful death lawsuit filed by family of man shot and killed by Waterloo Police
By: 0:00 - Dash cam
2:10 - Body cam 1
7:47 - Body cam 2
9:44 - Body cam 3
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The family of a Waterloo man who was shot and killed by a police officer in 2021 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit
Iowa's News Now is also getting a first look at the body cam footage of the incident.
Connor Mulholland, the attorney representing the Boggess family explained the situation in an interview with Iowa's News Now.
"You've got a chained link fence to the right, a retaining wall to the left, stop sticks in front. Brent [Boggess} is then blocked in at that point with a patrol vehicle directly behind him. At that point it's over, he's going nowhere. He's a threat to no one. He hasn't displayed any sort of deadly weapon and that's where things should have ended at that point."
However, the body cam footage shows it didn't end there.
A patrol vehicle can be seen driving head-on towards 42 year-old Brent Boggess.
Then Boggess appears to ram his car into that same patrol vehicle and that's when police officer Kenneth Schaaf fired the fatal shots.
An Iowa DCI investigation into the November 2021 shooting concluded Officer Schaaf's use of deadly force was justified.
However, Boggess's family disagrees, naming Schaff and the City of Waterloo in a new wrongful death lawsuit.
"Brett was not wielding a deadly weapon," Mulholland said. "As stated, there were no officers on foot directly in front of his vehicle. There were stop sticks directly in front of his vehicle [and] the collision with the officer who drove over their own stop sticks was very minor."
Now, the Boggess's family is hoping to finally see justice.
They're asking for a jury trial and compensation for their suffering.
"They weren't able to seek any sort of justice through the criminal proceedings and unfortunately their only recourse now is to bring a civil suit," Mulholland said. "So what we'd like to see is some sort of justice and closure for the family by bringing in this civil suit."
Iowa's News Now did reach out to the City of Waterloo but never heard back..
The Waterloo Police Department said they don't comment on on-going litigation.