May 20, 2008 2:15 pm US/Pacific
Shooting Victim's Family To Sue Long Beach Police
LONG BEACH
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Roketi Su'e, 46, was killed Saturday as he was walking home from a birthday party.
CBS
The family of a terminally ill, mentally disabled man who was fatally shot during an altercation with Long Beach police officers said Tuesday they will sue the Police Department.
Roketi Su'e, 46, was killed Saturday in the 3400 block of 67th Way as he was walking home from a birthday party.
Two officers responded to the area at 7 p.m. on reports of a man behaving erratically, according to Nancy Pratt of the Long Beach Police Department.
Su'e resisted arrest, so officers used a Taser on him and struck him with batons, but he appeared unfazed, causing officers to think he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, she said.
When Su'e tried to take one of the batons away from the officers, they shot him multiple times in the upper torso, she said.
Family members said Su'e, who had a bipolar disorder and was dying of lung cancer, was unarmed and upset because he had had a fight with his girlfriend.
"What happened was an assassination," his girlfriend, Kathryn Noleb said. "It wasn't help. It wasn't help for him. It wasn't help for the community. It's not help."
Billy Moses, who said he witnessed the shooting, said officers shot the man six times.
"If you're going to shoot someone six times, wouldn't one bullet in the back be enough?" he said.
Civil rights activists have spoke out against the shooting and called on the U.S. Attorney's Office to investigate.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
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