Photo: #Fong Lee, 19, was shot to death by Minneapolis police officers in 2006, after they say he threatened them with a gun. Lee's family claims Lee was unarmed, and that police planted the gun after the fact.

US Supreme Court won't take Fong Lee case


Minneapolis (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court won't take up the case of a family that claimed a Minneapolis police officer used excessive force when he shot a fleeing teenager eight times.

In 2009, a federal jury decided against the survivors of 19-year-old Fong Lee, saying that Officer Jason Anderson did not use excessive force in the 2006 shooting. A federal appeals court upheld the jury's verdict last August.

But the family requested that the U.S. Supreme Court review the case. According to a filing made public Friday, the higher court denied that request, meaning the lower court decision will stand.

Lee's family had claimed the teen was unarmed and that Anderson planted a gun near his body. But Anderson and a state trooper testified Lee had a gun and wouldn't drop it.

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