[04/18/01] A $16 million lawsuit brought against the City of Tallulah by the family of a man killed by police in November could go to trial this year.

Samuel Thomas of Tallulah is the attorney representing the family of Melvin Guy who was 23 when he was shot to death by police on Thanksgiving Day.

“We are starting depositions in a couple of weeks,” Thomas said.

Police were attempting to arrest Guy on several outstanding warrants when they saw him running from his aunt’s Tallulah apartment, according to state police and family statements.

During the chase that followed, shots were fired, and Guy, who was unarmed, was hit in the back with what a preliminary coroner’s report identified as one round of buckshot.

“I mean he was running away, so it’s not like the officers felt threatened for their lives or anything,” Thomas said.

Guy had been evading police for about five months. He was wanted on a warrant for simple escape from the Madison Parish Jail. Other charges against him included resisting police, possession of a firearm by a felon, assault and battery and indecency with a child.

Thomas said Larry Mahoney, identified by witnesses and family members as the person who fired the fatal shot, was an auxiliary police officer who wasn’t on duty as a policeman at the time.

“I’m not saying his act was intentional because I don’t know that,” Thomas said. “I do know he was not properly trained.”

Shelia Dyson, with the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office, said the state police finished their investigation.

“We are still in the process of investigating this for ourselves,” Dyson said.

She said she isn’t sure when the investigation would be complete. The attorney general’s office will decide if criminal charges will be filed against Mahoney.

Thomas said Mahoney, a Tallulah firefighter occasionally used by police as a relief officer, has never been to the police academy, which is a requirement for law enforcement in Louisiana.

“He had no business being out there that day much less with his personal gun,” Thomas said.

Mahoney and two other officers involved in the shooting have been suspended until the investigation is complete.

Thomas said the lawsuit, which also names the Tallulah Police Department and Mahoney, said his clients want resolution to the case.

“We just want some answers about what happened that day,” he said.