Florida authorities went to a funeral home and used a dead man’s finger to try to unlock his cellphone as part of their investigation.
Linus Phillip, 30, was fatally shot six times in the back by a Largo police officer last month after authorities say he tried to drive away before an officer could search him.
At the Sylvan Abbey Funeral Home, two detectives held the man’s hands up to the phone’s fingerprint sensor but could not unlock it.
Linus Phillip, 30, was fatally shot six times in the back by a Largo police officer last month after authorities say he tried to drive away before an officer could search him
Phillip’s fiancee Victoria Armstrong says she felt violated and disrespected. The couple have two children together. Their young daughter lost her battle with leukemia last year but their son Isaac is 16-months-old.
Legal experts mostly agree that what the detectives did was legal, but they question whether it was appropriate.
Charles Rose, a professor at Stetson University College of Law, tells the Tampa Bay Times that dead people can’t assert their Fourth Amendment protections because you can’t own property when you’re dead. But those rights could apply to whoever inherits the property.
Phillip’s fiancee Victoria Armstrong said she felt violated and disrespected after two detectives held the man’s hands up to the phone’s fingerprint sensor but could not unlock it
Philip’s mother Martha Hicks told ABC : ‘ They killed him after his 30th birthday. Oh god he turned 30 on March 11. It’s too much too much we just want to know what happened’
After the family witnessed police officers attempt to use Phillip’s fingerprint after his death, their attorney filed a complaint against the detective.
They said they are also considering a lawsuit against the City of Largo for unwarranted search and seizure, and obtaining illegal access to the body after it had left city custody.
Philip’s family said he was pulled over at a WaWa gas station because the window tint on his rental car was too dark, according to officers.
The police claimed they could smell marijuana, so they tried to detain him, but they said he tried to drive away, causing police to fire four shots through the passenger window, killing him.
A GoFundMe page was set up for Phillip, which was titled Justice for Linus Phillip. Their goal is to raise $50,000
After the fatal ordeal police told the family that WaWa’s security cameras caught video of the incident. However, they later said that all the cameras had an obscured view, and as a result, only had video of the police rendering CPR on Linus.
Police later told the family’s attorney, John Trevena, that no video existed.
Philip’s mother Martha Hicks told ABC: ‘They killed him after his 30th birthday. Oh god he turned 30 on March 11. It’s too much too much we just want to know what happened.’
Armstrong said: ‘My son is no longer going to go have a father, or to make his dad proud. He’s not here anymore because of this and the police are slandering his name like some awful person. We are fighting to find out what happened.’
Philip’s family said he was pulled over at a WaWa gas station because the window tint on his rental car was too dark, according to officers
A GoFundMe page was set up for Phillip, which was titled Justice for Linus Phillip. Their goal is to raise $50,000.
In the description they wrote: ‘Another unarmed black man killed by police.’
It also read: ‘Linus Phillip loved his children, and was a devoted family man. He loved taking his kids to the park and spending time with family. When his daughter was born with a rare cancer, he refused to leave the hospital, even to get a haircut.’
‘He also enjoyed sports, and playing Madden Football and NBA2K on PS4. He also loved comedy clubs, and often took his wife Victoria to the Improv in Tampa.’