An attorney for the family of a Florida woman who was killed by a police officer has been indicted on a civil rights charge.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida said on Friday that Richard “Richard” Smith was charged with a misdemeanor count of criminal mischief stemming from a 2016 incident in the town of Tampa where he was stopped by a female officer.
The incident was captured on a cellphone video, and the department fired Smith.
The case is pending.
Smith, a civil-rights activist who was black, had been arrested for trespassing in Florida in 2014.
He was acquitted of the charge.
Smith was among a group of protesters who broke through a police barricade and confronted officers in a parking lot.
Police shot and killed the protester, Raymond Henderson, 18, after he was hit with a baton.
Smith said at the time that he had a history of being in trouble with the law and that he would plead not guilty to the charges.