Two Ohio police officers who shot and killed an unarmed black man, 23, who was sleeping in his car, will avoid jail time due to qualified immunity, leaving the family in agony, a lawyer claims.
Euclid Police Department (EPD) officers Matthew Rhodes and Louis Catalani have not yet been brought to justice after Rhodes' shot Luke Stewart five times in 2017 after dragging him out of his car, the family's lawyer, Sarah Gelsomino, said, and it's unlikely they ever will as a grand jury has declined to indict them.
'Qualified immunity was meant to protect officers from gray areas and unforeseeable changes in the law,' Gelsomino wrote in an opinion piece for USA Today Thursday.
'Officers can be held liable only for violations of clearly established laws, and they are protected when they had no advance notice that their conduct would be unconstitutional.
'The quest of what is "clearly established" is constantly in flux but has generally been interpreted in a manner that protects police even when they demonstrate a lack of concern for people's lives and safety,' she wrote.
Luke Stewart, 23, was fatally shot five times after two Euclid, Ohio, Police Department officeres woke up him while he was sleeping in his car, got into his vehicle, dragged him out and shot him to death
Stewart was found sleeping in his car after a resident of a nearby home called the Euclid Police Department to report a 'suspicious vehicle'
The two officers had approached Stewart's car in March 2017 after receiving a call about a suspicious vehicle idling outside a home.
'I was dispatched to a suspicious vehicle call. The information that the dispatcher gave to me was that a resident had called [and] said she had observed a vehicle that had been idling for like 20 minutes in front of her house - I think the wording she used was "didn't belong there,"' Catalani, who arrived first, said at the time.
'I told Officer Rhodes over the air that we're going to end up pulling this guy out of car,' Catalani told the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI), who investigated the incident.
Stewart was parked near a friend's house after a night of drinking.
His family thought he choose to stay there because it was 'the safest place to be,' a Reuters special investigation found.
They knocked on his windows and failed to announce themselves as law enforcement.
When Stewart awoke, he reportedly started his car and tried to get away, according to the News Herald.
Catalani told the Ohio BCI that he wanted to 'grab him by the head' after Stewart woke up and 'that was his goal.'
He cited his reasoning as 'if I get get the head out, I can get him out.'
Officers Matthew Rhodes (center right), who shot Stewart five times, and Louis Catalani (center left in red) were involved in the shooting. Catalani, who arrived first to the scene, told Rhodes they were 'going to end up pulling this guy out of car' and that 'was the goal'
![Catalani (above) told the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI) - which investigated the incident - that he wanted to 'grab him [Stewart] by the head'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/10/22/18/49519209-10120549-image-m-36_1634923979242.jpg)
Catalani (left) told the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI) - which investigated the incident - that he wanted to 'grab him by the head.' Both Rhodes (right, with family) and Catalani failed to turn on their dashcams. Neither officer was equipped with a bodycam, as it was voluntary and self-funded within the EPD in 2017
Stewart's mother Mary (pictured) filed a federal lawsuit in 2017, alleging that the city 'encouraged, or at least condoned, excessive force'
The family's case was denied by the Supreme Court, which upheld an appeals court decision that the family could not sue the City of Euclid or the officers (pictured: Luke's son)
The Supreme Court denied hearing the family's (pictured in Mary's home) case in May 2021
Luke was shot by Rhodes once in the neck and wrist and three times in the chest. He was transported to Euclid Hospital, which does not have a trauma center, his sister Terra said
The officers allegedly opened Stewart's car door and entered the vehicle, where they proceeded to beat him, drag him out of the car in an 'unpleasant' headlock, and shot him five times - once in the wrist and neck and three times in the chest, according to his family.
Stewart was unarmed.
Rhodes told the Ohio BCI that he was 'yelling' at Stewart 'to stop' and admitted to 'striking him on the head' before deploying a taser.
'I had no idea what was coming out of my mouth,' Rhodes told investigators.
Once the safety kicked on the taser, Rhodes admitted to pulling out his duty weapon and shooting Stewart 'in the chest twice.'
He also alleged that Stewart swung at him before he shot him in the neck.
He claimed the neck injury 'definitely had an effect' and 'loosened him up.'
The BCI Medical Report found that Stewart had been shot five times.
He was transported to Euclid Hospital, which does not have a trauma center, according to his sister Terra.
University and Metro hospitals in the area both have trauma centers.
'Euclid hospital couldn't help him,' Terra said in an interview with Real News. 'Anybody knows that. We have two trauma centers here: Metro or University.
'The type of gunshot wounds he had, he wasn't supposed to go there [Euclid Hospital].'
Euclid Hospital is a part of the esteemed Cleveland Clinic, which is named the number two hospital in the nation and number one for heart care.
Bodycam footage, obtained by Reuters, of first responders on the scene showed another officer ordering someone to stay with Stewart as they transported him to the hospital.
The unidentified officer can be heard saying: 'Somebody stay with
