NEW ORLEANS — The family of a young man shot and killed by a Jefferson Parish deputy during what the sheriff’s office said was a stakeout of a stolen car and an attempt to arrest a suspect in a road rage shooting in New Orleans is filing suit over his death.
The family and attorneys representing the family of Calvin Cains III, who was 18 when he was shot and killed in a Metairie apartment complex on June 6, 2023, said they want to see body cam footage of the fatal incident.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said that it doesn’t comment on pending litigation and previously said the body cam footage would not be released with the case under investigation.
Attorney Bobby DiCello said that the attempted apprehension of Cains III could have gone differently. He said the officers were in plainclothes and that the officer who fired the fatal shot did so needlessly as Cains III was in a car that was blocked in and which hadn’t been moved from its parallel parking spot.
“If you have a clear case of Calvin being a threat, you imagine they would have released that,” he said.
“I’ve been pleading for justice and accountability,” said Mallory Woodfork, Cains III’s mother. “I’ve asked for body cam footage of that day. I want to understand why my child was deemed a threat. Why wasn’t he given a chance to be apprehended safely.”
DiCello said the timing of the lawsuit is because the family would lose its right to a civil suit after a year.
When the shooting occurred, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said it had a request for help from New Orleans Police in searching for Cains III, who was wanted for aggravated second-degree battery in a June 4 shooting in the Tremé neighborhood.
Sheriff Joe Lopinto said that investigators were looking for a stolen Toyota C-HR that had been linked to the shooting in Tremé and that Cains had previously been arrested at a relative’s apartment in the 3300 block of West Esplanade.
Deputies were sent to that location and spotted the Toyota in the parking lot.
Lopinto said that deputies were in the midst of setting up surveillance when Cains III walked out of an apartment and got into the car. Lopinto said deputies then pulled their vehicle in front of the car to block its escape.
The sheriff’s office released a statement at the time that said that Cains III put the car in reverse and hit the fence at the back of the parking space, then “turned the wheels and moved the vehicle between the blocking vehicle and the fence.”
Lopinto said a deputy who was walking toward the car opened fire, striking Cains III through the windshield.
At the time, Lopinto said Cains’ attempted escape, “put one of our deputy’s lives in danger.”
Calvin Cains Jr., Cains III’s father, told NOLA.com at the time that he questioned how the NOPD determined his son was the person wanted in the June 4 Tremé shooting.
He said that Cains III had previously been arrested at the same Metairie complex a year earlier and that it didn’t end in gunfire.
"He just made some bad decisions, but he was a loving kid," Calvin Cains Jr. told NOLA.com at the time.
