(Iowa Capital Dispatch) The estate of man who was shot and killed by eastern Iowa police after a high-speed chase in 2022 is now suing the officers involved.

The estate of Kenneth Jamal Carrol and its administrator, Shanita Taylor, are suing the cities of Davenport and Bettendorf, as well as Davenport Police Officers Brandon Askew, Mason Pauley and Benjamin Betsworth, and Bettendorf Police Officer Zachary Thomas. Also named as defendants are Iowa State Troopers Kenneth Voorhees and Dwight Swartz, although the state is not named as a defendant.

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The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, alleges that on Oct. 30, 2022, the officers initiated an unlawful and pretextual traffic stop of a vehicle in which Carrol was a passenger. The lawsuit claims that after the traffic stop ended, police “initiated” a foot pursuit of Carrol and then “engaged in excessive force and shot multiple times and killed” Carrol.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for the alleged pretextual traffic stop and the alleged use of excessive force.

The defendants have yet to file a response to the lawsuit, although an investigation by the Scott County Attorney’s Office concluded the shooting was justified.

Authorities have said that on Oct. 16, two weeks before the shooting, police had pursued a vehicle similar to the Hyundai Santa Fe that Carrol was in the night of Oct. 30, and that vehicle had successfully eluded police.

Because of the earlier incident, police on Oct. 30 decided to follow Carrol’s vehicle which was then seen weaving and crossing the center line of the road. Police allege Carrol was the driver of the car, not a passenger as the lawsuit claims.

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Investigators later said that police dashcam footage shows Voorhees pursued Carrol’s vehicle at speeds of more than 100 mph before the Santa Fe struck a curb, left the roadway and came to rest in a ditch in a residential neighborhood – after which the four individuals in the car, Carrol included, fled on foot.

Carrol was pursued by troopers Voorhees and Swartz through the residential area when Carrol allegedly turned and fired shots in their direction, at which point the troopers returned fire.

Police officers Askew, Pauley, Betsworth and Thomas also directed shots toward Carrol, according to the subsequent investigation by the Scott County Attorney’s Office.

That investigation found that the six officers fired a total of 53 rounds at Carrol, 13 of which struck Carrol, resulting in his death. The investigators concluded the officers’ use of deadly force was justified and reasonable under the circumstances.

According to the investigators, Carrol’s blood-alcohol level was over the legal limit for driving and he also had methamphetamine and marijuana in his system at the time of the shooting. The investigators also stated the gun Carrol is alleged to have used was found 90 feet from his body and that it appeared he had fired all of the rounds in the weapon.

“I counted approximately 15 times that officers requested Mr. Carrol to get on the ground,” said then-Scott County Attorney Mike Walton in a December 2022 press conference at the conclusion of the county’s investigation. “He never, never complied. And eventually that’s what caused the shooting. Because had he gone to ground any of those times — including after he shot at officers — he would not have been shot.”

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