Niles police sued in fatal shooting of Matthew Burroughs

YOUNGSTOWN — Attorneys representing the estate of a Niles man fatally shot by police early last year are suing the city of Niles and the officers involved.

The federal civil rights complaint, filed Thursday in the U.S. Northern District court, brings several claims including excessive force, assault and battery and wrongful death against the city and the three Niles officers involved in the shooting — Christopher Mannella; James Reppy; and Paul Hogan — as well as Niles police Chief Jay Holland.

Matthew Burroughs, 35, was shot the afternoon of Jan. 2, 2019, outside his apartment complex along Royal Mall Drive following a police pursuit during which an officer was reportedly struck by the door of Burroughs’ vehicle.

Burroughs had visited the Niles Municipal Court that day to pay a traffic fine but was recognized by a court bailiff for an outstanding warrant, according to the suit.

Reppy reportedly followed Burroughs’ vehicle — which matched the description given to police — to the Royal Mall complex, where Mannella had already arrived.

Reppy, who stopped his vehicle behind Burroughs’, “jumped out” of his vehicle and fired five shots at Burroughs while the man was still in his vehicle, without identifying himself as a police officer or giving warnings, the suit claims.

Mannella, who approached Burroughs’ car on foot, fired three shots, which were later determined by prosecutors to be the ones that killed Burroughs.

Though Burroughs was not carrying a firearm, a release from the police department claims Burroughs was using his vehicle as a weapon.

“Defendant Reppy’s body camera shows that Burroughs’ brake lights were on at the time he was shot. Defendants Reppy and Mannella failed to turn on their body cameras before the shooting,” the complaint states. “Because Burroughs’ car was stopped when he was shot, there was no justification for the shooting. No one was in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury.”

The suit also claims Hogan “had the ability and responsibility to prevent the shooting,” but didn’t.

The suit also questions Chief Holland’s “reckless” hiring practices as well as the department’s training practices and the history of excessive force used by city officers, which the city “tolerated” and “sanctioned.”

Trumbull County prosecutors in September declined to indict the officers, after a lengthy review of the incident by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Prosecutors have since handed the investigation off to the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

This story was originally published January 3, 2020 at 10:41 AM with the headline "Niles police sued in fatal shooting of Matthew Burroughs."