On December 15, 2009, East Peoria police shot and killed 48-year-old Samuel Craft outside of his apartment in East Peoria, Illinois. The officers were responding to a call from Craft’s neighbor, who informed police that Craft was suicidal. Police allege that at the time they shot him, Craft was holding a sword which he refused to drop.
The case seeks to hold the officers accountable for using excessive and unnecessary force against Craft. The case also seeks to change East Peoria’s failure to train its police officers in crisis intervention with a suicidal person.