DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – The family of a mother and daughter killed in June are suing the City of Dayton and the Dayton Police Department, as well as the officers involved in the incident, stating that the women’s deaths should have been prevented.
On June 23, officers responded to the 300 block of Burleigh Avenue for a welfare check. When officers arrived on the scene, they found 31-year-old Aisha Nelson and her 6-year-old Daughter Harper Guynn dead in the basement of the home.
The suspect, 31-year-old Dante Hawes, was found dead by a self-inflicted gunshot wound later that day.
Nelson’s family claims the Dayton Police Department officers failed to follow general orders regarding domestic violence calls.
“After only 30 minutes of talking to Aisha and Mr. Hawes, these officers made no decisions and simply left the location,” the Family’s attorney, Robert Gresham with Wright & Schulte law firm, said.
According to the complaint, Nelson called the police multiple times the day before her death, saying Hawes, her boyfriend and the man she lived with, had threatened to kill her. She then went to a separate location to wait for police, but they allegedly never arrived.
Around 1:30 a.m. on June 23, Nelson called the police in an attempt to get Hawes to leave the home. Officers interviewed the couple for approximately half an hour, the complaint says, At which point Nelson told officers Hawes had threatened her multiple times and owned a weapon. Officers allegedly left the scene without making an arrest, ordering one of the parties to leave the home or making a report of the incident.
An hour later, Nelson and her daughter were shot.
“Even the bare minimum would have resulted in all parties still being alive here,” Gresham said. “All these officers had to do is do their job or do a competent job.”
The complaint alleges their deaths were preventable, and that the officers could have saved Nelson and her daughter. Nelson’s family filed the complaint in Montgomery County on Monday, December 5, and is being represented by attorneys Michael Wright and Robert Gresham of Wright & Schulte, a release states.
“It could have been prevented, but it wasn’t, so now we’re here and it’s unacceptable,” Aisha Nelson’s mother Keeley Nelson said.
Aisha Nelson’s mother, Keely Nelson spoke on the lawsuit at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, December 6. You can watch the press conference in the video player above.
