Brittni Muldrew.
By Ryan Yousefi
The family of a woman fatally shot by Coconut Creek Police Department officers during a 2021 traffic stop has filed a lawsuit accusing them of excessive and deadly force.
According to a report from the Miami New Times, the family of Brittni Muldrew, a 36-year-old woman fatally shot by Coconut Creek officers in a 2021 confrontation, has filed a lawsuit against five officers involved in the incident, alleging excessive and deadly force.
Records show that the 2021 encounter between CCPD officers and Muldrew began as a routine traffic stop but quickly took a turn when the officers discovered that the car Muldrew was driving had been reported stolen.
According to New Times, the lawsuit filed by Muldrew’s mother, Vicki Waters, claims police overreacted with deadly force and failed to intervene when one officer allegedly used a baton to strike Muldrew repeatedly in the head, even as her body lay incapacitated on the parking lot pavement. The lawsuit Waters filed reportedly seeks damages for wrongful death, excessive use of force, and the failure to intervene.
The case highlights explicitly that Muldrew, described as a “beloved daughter and the mother of two autistic children,” posed no threat to the officers that would have justified lethal force.
Initially, Coconut Creek police claimed that their officers were justified in opening fire because Muldrew had reversed her vehicle toward them in a threatening manner. After the incident, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigated the use of force and has since handed over its findings to the Broward County State Attorney’s Office, where the case is under review.
The deadly confrontation began when an officer pulled over Muldrew for speeding while she was driving a white Mercedes Benz with a passenger, Levon Lopez. According to the lawsuit, Muldrew was cooperative and admitted that her license was suspended, but the situation escalated when police discovered that the car had been reported stolen.
The lawsuit alleges that the officers approached the vehicle with their guns drawn, demanding that Lopez and Muldrew keep their hands up and not move. Despite Muldrew complying with the officers’ commands and holding her hands on the wheel, the situation escalated when a K-9 unit officer, Amanda Cummings, arrived at the scene.
Dashcam footage from the incident showed the car suddenly reversing towards Cummings, who managed to avoid being struck as other officers surrounded the vehicle with their guns drawn. According to police records, Cummings and Arthur Patton opened fire in response to “this threatening action.”
The lawsuit claims that multiple gunshots were fired, including one that struck Muldrew in the head and back. After being shot, the lawsuit alleges that an officer repeatedly struck Muldrew’s head with a steel baton as officers removed her from the vehicle and continued to attack her. At the same time, her injured body lay on the pavement.
Vicki Waters contends that the officers’ use of firearms was unnecessary, as her daughter was fully cooperating. She also claims that the officers failed to follow proper traffic stop procedures by not instructing Muldrew to turn off the car and not ordering the occupants out of the vehicle.
The officers involved in the shooting were placed on administrative leave following the incident but were reinstated to the force as of February 2022. A Broward police union has not responded to requests for comment.
The Sun Sentinel reported that during a 2021 bond hearing for Levon Lopez, an attorney mentioned surveillance footage from a gas station or convenience store in Parkland showing Lopez and Muldrew entering the running Mercedes Benz and driving away.
Lopez was initially arrested and charged with grand theft auto and third-degree homicide while engaged in a felony offense, but the murder charge was later dropped.
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