California cops shot naked, unarmed man in back 'within seconds' of breaking down door: lawsuit

A lawsuit filed in federal court alleges 29-year-old James McKinney was naked and unarmed when police in Hayward, California shot him in the back and killed him.

The San Francisco Chroniclereported McKinney's siblings filed the lawsuit on Monday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

On July 6, 2015, Hayward police officers responded to reports that McKinney had barged into a hotel room and refused to come out.

The lawsuit said that "despite the fact that he was naked, unarmed and did not pose a threat to the officers or anyone else at the time they decided to use deadly force against him.”

An arrest team sent into the hotel by Sgt. Scott Lunger first deployed pepper spray under a door. They then tried to force the door open, but it was wedged closed with furniture.

“Realizing the entry plan was botched, Sergeant Lunger tried to stop the officers from any further attempts to enter the hotel room,” the suit said. But Officers Kenneth Landreth and Ricardo Flores allegedly pushed into the room and shot McKinney "within seconds."

The complaint said that McKinney was attempted to comply with the officers' commands when he was shot. Lunger was said to have run into the room and yelled for officers to stop the shooting.

The city of Hayward, Flores and Landreth are named as defendants in the suit. It was filed on behalf of sibling Diane McKinney, Deborah McKinney, Richard McKinney, Jacqueline Taylor and Michael McKinney.