Police Shot, Paralyzed Black Man Who Was Grabbing Tea From Car: Lawsuit

A Black man in New Jersey was getting iced tea out of his car last month when police smashed the vehicle window and shot him four times, his lawyers say in a new civil lawsuit.

Jajuan R. Henderson, 29, is now paralyzed from the chest down as a result of the incident, according to the suit, which was filed against the city of Trenton, director of Trenton police Steve E. Wilson, and the four police officers involved in the shooting.

Henderson was retrieving some iced tea from his parked car on the street outside a Trenton home around midnight on Feb. 12, the suit, filed by Zeff Law Firm on behalf of Henderson, states.

“In the middle of the night, Jajuan sat lawfully parked in a car with the engine turned off when an unidentified dark car approached and parked next to him, boxing him in,” the suit reads. “A group of men, fully masked and in dark plain clothes, then jumped out of this mysterious vehicle and began yelling at Jajuan.”

Documents from the Mercer County prosecutor’s office had previously characterized Henderson as being uncooperative when faced with a motor vehicle stop, NJ.com reported. But Henderson’s lawyers emphasized that because the officers were in plainclothes and wearing masks, he had no idea who they were, and viewed the situation as four masked strangers menacingly approaching him in the middle of the night.