Today, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the “moment of threat” doctrine, a legal theory created to protect police officers from accountability. This decision will allow the mother of Ashtian Barnes, a victim of a police shooting in 2016, to pursue excessive force charges against the Houston police officer who killed him in 2016. ✊🏾 In April 2016, 24-year old Ashtian Barnes was stopped for $6.45 in toll debt connected to the rental car he was driving. The officer shot him twice, and he died on the scene. This terrible tragedy could have been prevented, yet the courts refused to hold the officer accountable for this egregious act, claiming that he feared for his life. Almost ten years later, this Supreme Court decision allows Ashtian’s family to pursue some recompense, and marks a critical step in the cause of police accountability. Color Of Change proudly issued a statement in support of Janice Barnes’s complaint in 2024, and we stand with the Barnes family as they continue to ...