The parents of a former Minor League Baseball player shot and killed by Marietta police in the parking lot of a Motel 6 have brought a lawsuit against the motel, the city and the two police officers involved.
Raphael Esteban Ramirez, 26, on July 7, 2022 was fatally shot by Marietta police officers who said they suspected he had rolled marijuana into a cigarillo while sitting in the driver’s seat of a red Honda Accord in the motel’s parking lot, according to the complaint. Both officers allegedly shot at Ramirez as he slowly reversed the car away from them, after the officers had demanded that he exit the vehicle, the lawsuit claims.
Credit: Minor League Baseball
Credit: Minor League Baseball
At the time, a GBI spokesperson said Ramirez had pinned one of the police officers between the Honda and a marked patrol car, “dragging and injuring the officer.”
The lawsuit, filed Saturday in the federal trial court in Atlanta by Rafael Ramirez and Yolandita Malave, alleges that a female officer stood in the way of the Honda as it traveled at less than 5 miles per hour and shot Ramirez. The female officer wedged herself between her patrol car and the Honda, “to get the best angle to shoot through the driver’s side window and kill Raphael Ramirez,” the complaint alleges.
“(The female officer) fired three shots into Raphael Ramirez’s head and neck, while his vehicle was slowly attempting to flee the parking lot and clearly was not intending to strike her,” the lawsuit states. “After (the female officer) shot Raphael Ramirez in the head several times and the vehicle passed her by, she fell to the ground as though she had been run over by Raphael Ramirez’s vehicle — seemingly, for maximum drama effect and the benefit of optics.”
A spokesperson for Marietta’s police department said an internal investigation found that “the force used by officers involved in the incident was justified and lawful.”
A spokesperson for Cobb County District Attorney Flynn Broady said a grand jury determined in November 2023 that the shooting at the Delk Road site was authorized, after the GBI investigated. Broady ensures all officer-involved shootings are reviewed by a grand jury, the spokesperson said.
The lawsuit alleges that a male officer was several feet away from the Honda, “in absolutely no danger,” and had no reason to believe that the female officer was in danger. The male officer “joined (the female officer) in her senseless, depraved use of deadly force and similarly began shooting at and into the slowly moving vehicle,” the complaint states.
Ramirez’s parents claim the body-worn camera of the female officer was not recording at the time of the incident and that the footage from the male officer’s body-worn camera hasn’t been turned over to their attorney. They say the Motel 6 surveillance cameras were not operating.
G6 Hospitality, which franchises Motel 6, said the Delk Road property was independently owned and operated at the time of the incident and is no longer associated with the Motel 6 brand.
“There is nothing more important to us than the safety and security of our hotel teams, guests, and the communities in which we operate,” a G6 Hospitality spokesperson said.
Ramirez’s parents claim several witnesses described seeing the officers shoot Ramirez before his vehicle made contact with the female officer. They said witnesses who filmed parts of the incident were warned by motel staff that they would be put on a “do not rent” list if they shared the footage or spoke to reporters.
“At least one witness told GBI investigators that (the male officer) was laughing after the shooting,” the lawsuit states.
Ramirez, of Atlanta, was a former Minor League Baseball player who had been drafted by the New York Mets in 2014, according to the league. He was released by the Kingsport Mets, an affiliate team, in 2017.
His parents allege he had rented a room at the Motel 6 the day he was shot. Ramirez and a female friend were legally in the Honda, which had been rented the day prior by Ramirez’s mother, according to the lawsuit.
The police officers allegedly said they were at the Motel 6 because it was a high-crime area and the motel had invited them to patrol the premises in the absence of private security, the complaint states.
Ramirez’s parents allege the officers had no reason to suspect that Ramirez or his friend were engaged in any criminal activity. They claim the officers parked their patrol vehicles in a way that blocked the Honda in its parking space, then demanded that Ramirez exit the vehicle, “effectively arresting him without a lawful basis.”
Only then did the officers claim that they saw Ramirez “rolling up suspected marijuana into a cigarillo in his lap,” the lawsuit alleges.
The officers ignored protocol, used excessive force and were not adequately trained, according to the complaint, which also accuses Motel 6 of allowing guests to be harassed by Marietta police and failing to keep guests safe. Ramirez’s parents want unspecified damages.
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