Family alters city lawsuit
DETROIT — Attorneys for the family of an exotic dancer who was fatally shot in April 2003 said Tuesday they will amend the federal lawsuit filed on behalf of her teenage son.
The dancer, Tamara “Strawberry” Greene, 27, was rumored to have performed at a wild party at Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s mansion.
The lawsuit alleges the defendants, which include the city of Detroit and Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, attempted to cover up an investigation of Greene’s death. That violated the constitutional rights of her son, Jonathan Bond, now 14, according to the lawsuit, which was initially filed in November 2005. The amended lawsuit will seek $150 million in damages and include additional defendants, attorneys said.
“People went out of their way to avoid bringing anyone to justice,” said lead counsel Norman Yatooma, of Norman Yatooma & Associates in Birmingham. “They have a duty to enforce the law, not ignore it.”
A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 3 in front of U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Rosen.
Following investigations, neither Attorney General Mike Cox nor the Michigan State Police could prove the party at which Greene allegedly performed occurred.
According to the lawsuit, Greene was shot about 3:40 a.m. on April 3, 2003, while she sat in her car with a friend on Roselawn. She died at the scene. No one has been charged in her death.
The lawsuit originally was initiated by Bond’s father, Ernest Flagg.
“We’re going to pursue this vigorously,” said attorney Robert Zawideh on Tuesday. “At the heart of this is a 14-year-old boy whose mother was murdered and the investigation has been halted.”
James Canning, a city spokesman, said the case had not yet been filed with the city and he had no comment.
In October, the Detroit City Council approved two settlements for $8.4 million for former Deputy Chief Gary Brown and ex-bodyguard Harold Nelthrope, who won whistleblower suits in which they alleged they were reprimanded or harassed for investigating the mayor’s behavior, including the rumored party.
Jurors ruled Kilpatrick and the city violated the Whistleblowers Protection Act when he fired Brown as head of the Police Department’s Professional Accountability Bureau in 2003, and when the city released an internal memo identifying Nelthrope as the cop who complained to internal affairs about alleged misbehavior by the mayor and his security detail.
Former Lt. Alvin Bowman, a 31-year veteran of the Detroit Police Department, contends he was forced out of the department after investigating the rumored party.
A Wayne County jury awarded Bowman $200,000.
