Family Sues Austin Police Officers Who Killed Defenseless Black Man

31-year-old Anthony Franklin was lying in the fetal position when three APD officers opened fire

March 14, 2023

AUSTIN, TX – The family of Anthony M. Franklin, the 31-year-old black man shot and killed by officers with the Austin Police Department (APD) while he laid defenseless crouched in the fetal position, joined their attorneys to announce a federal lawsuit against APD officers Kelby Radford, Ryan Rawlins and Jacob Bowman today in front of the Austin Federal Courthouse. Officers Radford, Rawlins and Bowman shot and killed Franklin on January 15.

Franklin’s family is represented by renown civil rights attorneys Harry Daniels and Bakari Sellers as well as Nathaniel Mack III.

“The video is clear,” said Daniels. “Anthony Franklin was on the ground defenseless, crouched in the fetal position when the officers fired their weapons over 20 times.”

“If that isn’t murder, then what is?”

According to the lawsuit, Franklin jumped from a nearby porch and, less than a second after making impact with the sidewalk and while he was lying on his back, Officer Radford began firing his weapon and continued to fire as Franklin rolled into a fetal position facing in the opposite direction. Radford fired over 10 shots while Franklin was balled up in a fetal position.

“I wonder what would happen right now if the hundreds of thousands of people in two for South by Southwest knew they were walking streets stained with blood,” said Sellers. “Maybe then we’d get a real investigation that holds these officers accountable for stealing a father away from his daughters.”

“I know America is sick of hearing these stories week after week,” said Mack. “We’re sick too, sick to our stomachs at police officers gunning down another black man. But, as sick as we are, we can’t stop until justice is done.”

Click HERE for a copy of the lawsuit.

Click HERE to view the body-worn camera video and 911 call audio released by the APD.