Ahmaud Arbery's Mother Accuses Prosecutors, Police of 'Vast Cover-up' in New Civil Lawsuit

Ahmaud Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper, has filed a multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit against several people involved in killing her son or the subsequent investigation on the case.

Ahmaud Arbery was the 25-year-old Black man gunned down by a white men group while jogging in Glynn County, Georgia.

Wanda Cooper filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, which comes exactly one year after her son's killing.

The lawsuit named father-and-son Gregory and Travis McMichael and William "Roddie" Bryan, all of whom are white and facing felony murder charges in connection with Arbery's death, NPR reported.

According to the lawsuit, the men willfully and maliciously conspired to follow, threaten, detain, and kill Arbery. The only reason that the McMichaels and Bryan started their pursuit of Arbery was that he was a Black man, as stated under the lawsuit.

Some law enforcement officials and local prosecutors were also named in the lawsuit, claiming they were involved with an alleged cover-up in the probe. The suit also alleged that the elder McMichael's law enforcement connections extended well beyond the officers.

The case noted that the defendants were motivated to deprive Arbery of equal protection of the law and his rights "by racial bias, animus, discrimination." The complaint listed 14 actions, including failure to prevent harm, excessive force, and willful and wanton misconduct.

The federal civil lawsuit was filed the same day Arbery's family members hold a public memorial at the New Springfield Baptist Church, where he is buried.

"They took a part of me they never going to be able to put back. I've got to get justice for my boy, and I've got to make sure those three men never walk the streets again," Marcus Arbery, Arbery's father, told station WABE.

Arbery's father added that he wants justice for him, and "we're going to get justice."

Ahmaud Arbery's Death

The incident triggered mass anti-racism protests across the U.S. as activists called for justice for George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and others, including Breonna Taylor. Taylor was a 26-year-old Black woman shot and killed by police in Louisville, Kentucky.

Organizations and leaders in the U.S. supported calls for social and racial justice reforms one year after Arbery's killing.

Ahmaud Arbery was out for a jog in the coastal city of Brunswick and, at one point, entered the Satilla Shores neighborhood, where he was killed. He was shot dead after two white men chased him, believing he was a burglar.

Gregory McMichael said Arbery resembled the suspect in a series of local break-ins. But police said there were no reports filed regarding these alleged break-ins.

Gregory McMichael and his son Travis armed themselves with a pistol and a shotgun and pursued Ahmaud Arbery in a pickup truck through the neighborhood.

According to Gregory, he and his son told Arbery to stop as they wanted to talk to him, BBC reported. Gregory also claimed that Arbery attacked his son. On the other hand, Arbery's family said the 25-year-old man was unarmed.

Three shots were fired, and Arbery fell down on the street. According to an autopsy report, Arbery had two gunshot wounds in his chest and a gunshot graze wound on the inside of one of his wrists. Ahmaud Arbery did not also have drugs or alcohol in his system.