James A. Byrne U.S. Courthouse in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA – The City of Philadelphia is settling claims one of its officers ruptured a child’s eye with a taser for $500,000.
Court records filed in January ask for approval by a Philadelphia federal judge of the agreement, which includes nearly $200,000 for the plaintiff’s lawyer, Jason Javie. The remaining $303,000 will be paid out in monthly and annual sums to Akhil Sanders.
Sanders, who was 2 years old at the time of the incident, now requires a glass eye. His mother Sareda Simmons sued Philadelphia in 2024, and she received a favorable ruling that year when Judge John Padova declined the City’s motion to dismiss.
Philadelphia wanted Padova to dismiss the suit's Monell claim, which sought to hold it accountable for constitutional violations caused by its policies. But he ruled that year that Simmons had adequately alleged it, rejecting claims the plaintiff hadn't identified a municipal policymaker.
The amended complaint said Directive 10.3 was approved by the city's police commissioner. That directive on taser use fails to instruct officers on bystander safety and does not prohibit taser use when there is a risk of injury to a child or when the officer is off-balance, the suit says.
"Directive 10.3, which allegedly provides the content for officer training, offers no guidance as to how to avoid injuring bystanders," Padova wrote.
"Moreover, the amended complaint alleges specific ways in which the training that is offered falls short."
Crystal Harris and Gerald Rahill were named defendants over the 2023 incident, which began with them knocking on Simmons' door to investigate a possible domestic incident.
Simmons told the two that she didn't need their assistance, but Maurice Sanders came downstairs and tried to close the door on them. In response, they forced the door open and "physically assaulted" Maurice, the suit alleges.
Children came downstairs to see what was happening.
"While these minors were on the staircase, both defendants Harris and Rahill discharged their department-issued Conducted Energy Weapons one or more times," the suit says. "On at least one occasion, the weapons were discharged in the direction of the minors sitting on the steps."
The boy was hit in his left chest and right eye, causing pain and his blindness, the suit says. It adds he has suffered emotional trauma and that police paperwork attributed his injuries to Maurice Sanders' conduct.
Philadelphia had argued the complaint does not allege a history of employees mishandling tasers that would have put policymakers on notice of the deficiencies of Directive 10.3.
"Nonetheless, a single incident may demonstrate deliberate indifference in circumstances that involve 'a difficult choice' that policymakers know employees will face and may decide wrongly to the detriment of constitutional rights," Judge Padova wrote.
Previous courts have found the need for training can be so obvious that failure to do so could be deliberate indifference to constitutional rights even without a pattern of violations.
"Because police are sure to encounter fleeing felons, and because these encounters predictably involve the use of deadly force and a corresponding peril to constitutional rights, the failure to train amounts to deliberate indifference," Padova wrote.
