ALEXANDRIA, Va. — For the first time, one of the U.S. Park Police officers who killed motorist Bijan Ghaisar, 25, on Nov. 17, 2017, has given a reason for the shooting.
Officer Lucas Vinyard's attorney said the "defendant acted in self-defense and defense of others."
In the court-ordered written response a day before it was due, Vinyard pointed blame at the young man killed.
RELATED: Attorneys identify US Park Police officers in fatal shooting of Bijan Ghaisar in wrongful death suit
"If Mr. Ghaisar was injured and/or damaged as alleged in the Complaint, such injuries were the result of his own intentional, illegal, and/or otherwise wrongful conduct," Vinyard's attorney Stuart Sears alleged in his response to the Ghaisar family's $25 million wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. Government and the two officers.
Prior to the fatal shooting, Ghaisar's Jeep had been been struck from behind in a fender-bender on the George Washington Memorial Parkway. He was not at fault in the accident and left the scene.
Soon afterward, two U.S. Park Police officers, Vinyard and Alejandro Amaya, began following Ghaisar and attempted to pull him over.
A Fairfax County Police officer joined in the pursuit and dash cam video, released by Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler, captured the chase and fatal shooting.
The video shows Ghaisar pulling over twice, but then each time, driving away as the Park Police officers pointed their guns at him.
The third stop was at a stop sign in the Fort Hunt community of Fairfax County. Vinyard and Amayo can be seen approaching the Jeep, guns drawn.
Then, the video shows Ghaisar's Jeep move slowly forward and the officers fire directly at Ghaisar nine times. Ghaisar was hit four times in the head and once on his right wrist, according to the lawsuit.
In much of Vinyard's line-by-line response, he stats he "lacks sufficient information to admit or deny the allegations" and also invokes his Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself.
During a June 7 hearing, Sears and Amaya’s attorney, Kobie Flowers, were ordered to respond to the lawsuit by June 27th. Flowers told the judge that he was confident the criminal investigation would be resolved within 20 days.
After that June 7th hearing, Ghaisar's attorney Thomas Connolly was outraged to learn the government had been communicating with the officers’ lawyers, but not the family.
“I’ve never seen more hostility from prosecutorial authorities toward a family,” Connolly said.
Flowers is expected to file Amaya’s response Thursday. Still no word from the Justice Department on when it's criminal investigation will wrap up.
