Civil rights attorney Ben Crump filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the City of Hollywood and the three police officers involved in a shooting that paralyzed Michael Ortiz in July 2021.

The officer who shot Ortiz said he believed his gun was his Taser. He is facing a misdemeanor charge in criminal court.

“Criminal culpability has run its course,” Crump said at a news conference Wednesday announcing the lawsuit, “and it has told us that the officer is just getting a slap on the wrist.”

Ortiz called 911 on July 3, 2021, complaining of chest pains and said that he had taken drugs, Hollywood Police said in a statement last year. He was making “delusional and suicidal statements.”

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