Mother Asks $10 Million In Killing by Va. Police




The Washington Post

November 14, 1979, Wednesday, Final Edition

Mother Asks $10 Million In Killing by Va. Police

BYLINE: By Robert Meyers, Washington Post Staff Writer

SECTION: Metro; C12

LENGTH: 250 words 

The mother of a Nothern Virginia man mistakenly killed by police filed a $10 million suit in federal court in Alexandria yesterday against top Fairfax County and Arlington County police and other officials of both counties.

Naomi N. Hughes contended in her suit that police from Fairfax and Arlington "fired indiscriminately" at her son, Stanley Wayne Hughes, last Feb. 12 as she and Hughes attempted to escape from an apartment where a man wanted by police was hiding.

Stanley Hughes was killed in the hallway of his apartment of 3332 Lockheed Blvd. in the Mount Vernon section of the county, according to the suit.

Kenneth King, the man sought by police in connection with the shooting death of a relative several days earlier, shot himself to death when he learned that police were outside, according to the suit, filed by Alexandria attorney William B. Moffitt.

Named as defendents in the suit were Arlington police officer Kenneth Madden, and Fairfax County police officer Walter Blankenship, who allegedly fired the shots that killed Stanley Hughes, according to the suit.

Also named as defendants were Richard A. King, Fairfax County police chief, William Stover, Arlington County police chief, the police departments and boards of supervisors of both Arlington County and Fairfax County, and unidentified officers from both jurisdictions who allegedly participated in the incident.

None of the defendants could be reached for comment. No trial date has been set. 

     Had enough?  Write to the Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and demand federal hearings into the police problem in America.  Demand mandatory body cameras for cops, one strike rule on abuse, and a permanent  DOJ office on Police Misconduct.