Hasani Best’s family sues city for $25M

Asbury Park, N.J. – The family of Hasani Best, a Black man who was killed by Asbury Park police, has sued the city for $25 million.

Hasani Best, 39, was fatally shot by an Asbury Park Police officer after a neighbor called 911 over a domestic dispute at his home. Now his family have filed preliminary paperwork for a $25 million lawsuit against the city they say is responsible for his death.

Hasani Best’s family sues

The city of Asbury Park was served a notice of tort claim on Nov. 12, setting the framework that a lawsuit is on the horizon, APP.com reports.

“They (police) didn’t have to take his life,” said Carol Sanders, mother of Hasani Best. “They was laughing and joking with him one minute and then they shot him through the door, through his chest and in his stomach, and killed him.”

Best was shot after he refused to put down a knife he was holding, according to authorities. The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office released body camera footage capturing the events that led to the fatal shooting.

The footage came after the family of Best demanded the attorney general to release body camera and audio from the officers on the scene, NJ.com reported.

“It was not justified, at all. It wasn’t justified,” Sanders said. “No, he didn’t deserve that.”

The incident

According to authorities, multiple Asbury Park officers arrived on Aug. 21 to a two-family residence in the 900 block of 4th Avenue due to “a loud domestic dispute.”

Upon arrival, authorities said, the woman was outside while Best barricaded himself in the upstairs apartment. Officers tried to negotiate with Best through the door for nearly an hour, but Best reportedly opened the door at various times brandishing a knife, authorities said.

When authorities said Best wouldn’t drop the knife, they attempted to use a Taser, but it was ineffective. At around 10:10 p.m., an officer fatally shot Best, according to documents obtained by NJ Advance Media.

Best died at Jersey Shore University Hospital about 20 minutes later.

“They need to tell us why they decided to negotiate with him for 60 minutes and then decided to kill him,” Kay White, mother of Hasani Best’s son, told NJ.com.

The Attorney General’s Office identified the police officer who shot Best as Asbury Park police Sgt. Sean DeShader, a veteran officer who was named the city’s Police Officer of the Year in 2016.

DeShader currently is on administrative duty, a police department spokesman said in an email to the Houston Chronicle.

The state attorney general’s office is investigating the shooting and will present the video and other evidence to a grand jury when the investigation is concluded. The grand jury will ultimately decide whether criminal charges should be filed against any of the officers.