By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- The city of Seattle has appealed a $30.5 million jury verdict in the death of Antonio Mays Jr., 16, who was fatally shot June 29, 2020, in the Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone.
- A King County jury found in January that the city was negligent in its emergency response after paramedics drove away from a private vehicle carrying Mays that was trying to flag them down.
- The city argues in its appeal that Mays had only a 5% to 10% chance of surviving his wounds regardless of the care he received, and that jurors were given incorrect instructions.
- Mays’ father, Antonio Mays Sr., sued the city in 2023; his attorney said the trial judge upheld the verdict and “the record will speak for itself.”
- No one has been charged in the killing, and Seattle police say the homicide case remains open.
SEATTLE — The city of Seattle has appealed the $30.5 million verdict in the 2020 shooting death of 16-year-old Antonio Mays Jr. at the Capitol Hill Organized Protest, arguing it is not liable because he was very likely to die from his wounds regardless of the emergency care he received, The Seattle Times reported.
Mays was shot and killed in the protest zone known as CHOP in the early morning of June 29, 2020. Witnesses said afterward that he was killed by armed protesters known as “CHOP security.” No one has been charged, and Seattle police say the case remains open.
Mays’ father, Antonio Mays Sr., sued the city in 2023, alleging first responders refused to enter the protest zone and that an ambulance drove away from a private vehicle carrying his son that was trying to flag down paramedics. After a monthlong civil trial and nearly three weeks of deliberation, a King County jury found in January that the city was negligent and that its negligence caused Mays’ death, awarding more than $30.5 million to the father and the estate. The trial judge declined the city’s request for a new trial.
In its appeal, filed late Friday after several extensions, the city argues that even according to the plaintiff’s own medical experts, Mays had a 5% to 10% chance of surviving his wounds absent any negligence, and that he was treated by paramedics about 15 minutes after the shooting. It contends jurors should have been told the city could be liable only if he had a greater than 50% chance of survival with earlier treatment, and that they should have been allowed to separate the damages caused by the shooter from those attributable to the city. The brief calls the verdict “an extraordinary outlier” and says the city did not receive a fair trial. It also describes CHOP as “essentially a lawless section of Seattle” that medics could not safely enter.
Mays Sr.’s attorney, Evan Oshan, said in a statement Monday that “the jury has spoken” and that the trial judge upheld its verdict. His attorneys have asked the Court of Appeals for two months to respond.
Mays had traveled to Seattle from Southern California to join racial justice protests. He was riding in a stolen Jeep with two friends when he was shot by a person or people who witnesses said appeared to believe they were protecting CHOP from attackers. Volunteer protest medics tried to treat him, put him in a private vehicle and tried to meet paramedics. The city’s appeal notes that the vehicle, a silver Pathfinder, had a person hanging on its roof and had fired shots earlier that night at the Jeep Mays had been riding in. Paramedics drove away from it instead of stopping.