October set for new trial in rights suit

PROVIDENCE -- A judge has set an October trial date for the remaining civil rights claims filed by the mother of a Providence police officer who was killed outside a restaurant while off-duty.

Sergeant Cornel Young Jr. was in plain clothes and off duty when he tried to help fellow officers with a disturbance outside a diner on Jan. 28, 2000. Two police officers, mistaking Young for a suspect, shot him fatally after he failed to drop his weapon.

His mother, Leisa Young, sued the city for $20 million in damages.

In November 2003, US District Judge Mary Lisi threw out the civil-rights and wrongful-death lawsuit. She rejected the claim that the Police Department's deficient hiring and training contributed to Young's death.

But the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit restored portions of the suit in April, ruling that Lisi erred in not letting a jury decide if the city was responsible for failing to properly train an officer.

US District Judge William Smith, who has been assigned the second trial, set an Oct. 31 trial date.

The new trial will center on the argument that the city failed to properly train rookie officer Michael Solitro and therefore violated Young's constitutional rights.

Solitro and supervisor Carlos Saraiva, both white, were cleared by a state grand jury of any criminal wrongdoing.

They were also cleared of federal civil-rights violations by the US attorney's office.

Young was the son of the highest-ranking black police officer in Providence at the time.