Geoffrey Fieger, a nationally prominent civil rights attorney and the one-time lawyer for Dr. Jack Kevorkian, may soon become an advocate for the family of 12-year-old police shooting victim Michael Ellerbe.
Fieger, of Southfield, Mich., near Detroit , contacted representatives of the Ellerbe family to offer assistance. An assistant of Fieger's confirmed that he is flying to meet with Ellerbe's family Monday.
Ellerbe's family said they are looking forward to meeting with Fieger.
"I'm in favor of him getting involved," said Ellerbe's father, Michael Hickenbottom, through a representative.
Presidential candidate the Rev. Al Sharpton may also attend Monday's meeting. A spokeswoman for Fieger said scheduling issues are still being worked out. A call to Sharpton's National Action Network was not returned.
Sharpton and Fieger have histories of protest and suits on behalf of the same clients.
Ellerbe, of Uniontown, was shot by a Pennsylvania State Police trooper at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 24 as he ran from a car that had been reported stolen. An autopsy confirmed that he was shot in the back, but police have been largely mum on the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
Troopers Samuel Nassan and Juan Curry have been placed on administrative duty while concurrent state and federal criminal probes are undertaken. State Police Capt. Roger Waters said he expects the state police's criminal investigation will be wrapped up by Jan. 27, the date set for a coroner's inquest into Ellerbe's death. Waters is commander of Troop B at the Washington barracks. Troop B includes the Uniontown station where Curry and Nassan work.
U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan has said the civil rights investigation being undertaken by the FBI will take longer to conclude.
Fieger's background includes a Michigan gubernatorial campaign in 1998, and costarring on the Fox reality television show, "Power of Attorney."
He has taken part in a number of high-profile cases, such as representing the family of a man killed over a gay crush revealed during a taping of the "Jenny Jones Show" and suing rap star Eminem for an alleged assault.
He represented "Dr. Death," Jack Kevorkian, for nearly 10 years, and won a number of acquittals. Kevorkian is serving time in jail after representing himself in his last trial.
A recent example of his client list is the case of Joni Gullas. Fieger filed a $100 million lawsuit this month on behalf of Gullas, who had her ring finger partially amputated on Jan. 5 by a Detroit police officer who was attempting to arrest her. Another finger was cut, but reattached. The officer allegedly cut part of Gullas' finger off with a knife when attempting to cut her coat away to handcuff the woman. Gullas was never charged by the officer, who stopped her while he was doing undercover work to investigate a string of burglaries.
Fieger has been praised as a tireless advocate of the black community, which supported him heavily in his unsuccessful run for governor.
A member of the Michigan Defense Trial Council — a group that represents lawyers who are usually Fieger's opponents in civil matters — said Fieger has an enviable business model.
"He certainly has developed the art of obtaining business through multimillion-dollar verdicts that make the newspapers. The fact that most of them are overturned on appeal doesn't seem to hurt him, I guess," said suburban Detroit lawyer J. Michael Malloy.
Fieger's meeting with Ellerbe's family falls on the holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the assassinated civil rights leader.
Ellerbe family attorney Joel Sansone could not be reached to discuss Fieger.
But Sansone has observed that the shooting could be racially motivated, because Ellerbe is black. Sansone has avoided naming either officer as the one who fired the fatal shot, but has said his information indicates the shooter was white.
Nassan, in his first year as a state police trooper, is white. A former Marine, he served primarily as a military policeman for seven years. Curry, an eight-year state police veteran, is black.
Sansone has said anonymous "but credible" sources have told him that a black officer slipped and fell while pursuing Ellerbe, and accidentally fired his weapon. A white officer, perhaps believing his partner was under fire, shot Ellerbe, according to Sansone.
Hickenbottom has repeatedly said he is not after justice — "I want the truth," he said.
Through a representative, Hickenbottom has expressed fears that the inquiry is not being conducted in a forthright fashion — a concern authorities have dismissed as understandable, but unlikely.
