Killing of Archie Elliott III

Archie "Artie" Elliott III was born to Dorothy Copp Elliott, a school teacher, and Archie Elliott Jr., a trial court judge in Portsmouth, Virginia, on December 8, 1968. His parents divorced while he was still young. Elliott Jr. stayed in Portsmouth to pursue his legal career, and Elliott III moved with Dorothy to the Washington, D.C. area to be closer to Dorothy's side of the family. Elliott spent most of his childhood with his mother in Forestville, Maryland, seeing his father once a month. He lived with his father in Portsmouth for the last two years of high school. After graduating high school, Elliott worked in construction and learned masonry, hoping to become a bricklayer and to one day build his mother a new home. Elliott later decided to follow in his parents' footsteps and attend college at Virginia State University, where he majored in business administration, eventually moving back to Forestville. At the time of his death, Elliott was working in construction and living in Forestville. == Shooting ==

On June 18, 1993, Archie Elliott III was on his way home to Forestville, Maryland, from work at a construction job in Virginia. He was approximately 6 ft 1 in and 165 lbs. Elliott was buckled into the passenger seat and the car window was closed. Shortly after Leavitt placed Elliott in the police cruiser, Officer Wayne Cheney, from Prince George's County, arrived on scene. The officers claimed that they noticed Elliott III pointing a .22 caliber revolver at them and ordered him to stop. They stated that he did not stop, so they shot him, resulting in his death. == Aftermath ==

Investigation Preliminary reports indicated that officers fired five to ten shots at Elliott. Elliott's hands were handcuffed behind his back. The Maryland State Chief Medical Examiner stated that Elliott had sustained his injuries on the right side of the passenger side-door. In February 1993, Amadou Diallo was shot and killed by police officers in New York City. In 2021, the state's attorney at the time, Aisha Braveboy, conducted an independent review and came to the conclusion not to pursue charges. The Archie Elliott the III Coalition of Justice demanded to see the list, hoping to determine if any of the officers in Elliott's case were on the list. == Civil lawsuit ==

Elliott's family filed an excessive force lawsuit, which was dismissed. Elliott's mother appealed this decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, but they dismissed the case after determining that Elliott had threatened the officers. They then appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, which declined to hear the case. == References ==