News

Fatal shooting lawsuit against city, officer withdrawn

By Patrick Adrian
[email protected]
CLAREMONT — The LaFont family has withdrawn their lawsuit against the city of Claremont over claims of the wrongful death of 25-year-old Cody LaFont, who was fatally shot by a Claremont police officer at his residence in 2016.

The U.S. District Court dismissed the case on Thursday, July 7, after LaFont’s mother and administrator of his estate, Tracy McEachern, voluntarily asked to withdraw the family’s suit against the city and former Claremont officer Ian Kibbe. Former Claremont Police Capt. Brent Wilmot, now serving as Newport’s police chief, was dropped from the suit in November 2019.

LaFont died of gunshot wounds on Sept. 25, 2016, following a confrontation with Kibbe, who had gone to LaFont’s house to conduct a welfare check. LaFont, who had a lifelong history of depression, had made multiple 911 calls to the Claremont Police Department about feeling depressed. Wilmot, the on-duty dispatcher, sent Kibbe to talk with LaFont.

According to Kibbe’s account, LaFont met him at the front door holding a revolver in his right hand and smiling. Kibbe said that he drew his firearm and gave LaFont multiple orders to drop his weapon, but LaFont would not comply. Kibbe fired three rounds at LaFont, who would die on scene.

According to the family’s amended complaint filed on Feb. 13, the Claremont Police Department had violated LaFont’s rights under the American Disabilities Act (ADA) saying that Wilmot did not respond timely to LaFont’s calls about his emotional state and that Kibbe’s use of lethal force was unwarranted given the department’s familiarity with LaFont and his mental health issues.

“Wilmot and Kibbe had ‘independent knowledge’ that accommodations to Cody’s disability — in communicating with him and in the way that Claremont police officers carried out emergency services — were necessary,” the complaint stated. “Nevertheless, Cody’s disability and his need for accommodations, which were necessary to provide him with meaningful access to Claremont’s emergency services, were disregarded.”

The city’s attorney, John Curran, contended that the ADA’s scope does not include exemptions when posing a direct threat to another person in a response filed on Feb. 27. Curran also pointed to an overall lack of evidence to articulate how Claremont had discriminated against LaFont, what services LaFont was denied or that Kibbe’s use of force was excessive.

The controversy over LaFont’s death escalated greatly because of Kibbe’s role. In 2018, Kibbe was charged and convicted on two counts involving the falsifying of documents of a police investigation. In March 2018, Kibbe had performed an illegal search of a citizen’s belongings and lied about the facts in his report to justify his actions.

Following Kibbe’s conviction, New Hampshire Attorney General Gordon MacDonald reviewed the LaFont investigation, which had initially concluded that Kibbe’s use of force “was justified.” On Oct. 2, 2019, the AG’s office released an amended conclusion to the LaFont case, stating it “can no longer conclude Mr. Kibbe’s actions were justified.”

“Instead the Office has concluded it could not disprove Mr. Kibbe’s self-defense claim, beyond a reasonable doubt, and therefore no criminal charges will be filed against Mr. Kibbe as a result of Mr. LaFont’s death,” the conclusion stated.

Though there was insufficient evidence to challenge Kibbe’s account of his encounter with LaFont, by amending the conclusion the AG’s office enabled LaFont’s family to pursue their civil case against Kibbe.

According to Claremont City Manager Ed Morris, there was no monetary settlement involved in the family’s withdrawal of the suit.

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