Detroit woman shot during traffic stop files $25 million lawsuit

• A Detroit lady is suing town and the officer who shot her six instances throughout a site visitors cease in October 2025 for $25 million.
• The lawsuit alleges extreme drive, racist policing, gross negligence and assault.
• Detroit’s police chief stated the officer violated a number of division insurance policies and beforehand vowed to carry him accountable.
• The officer has been suspended with out pay, however the physique digital camera footage has not been publicly launched.

Tracey Allen requested God to guard her when she was pulled over for a site visitors cease in Detroit on Oct. 26, 2025, whereas on her method house from grabbing Halloween costumes for her kids. One thing did not really feel proper, she stated.

Now she is suing town of Detroit and Zachary Melvin, the officer who finally pulled the set off by capturing her six instances within the legs and arms, violating a number of division insurance policies, in line with a lawsuit filed in federal courtroom on Wednesday, February 4.

“I assumed I used to be going to die,” Allen stated throughout a press convention on Thursday, February 5.

The $25 million lawsuit alleges extreme drive, racist policing – All is Black – gross negligence, assault and battery. And town is liable, the lawsuit additionally states.

Maurice Davis, Allen’s legal professional, stated this case is greater than that of his shopper, whom he described as a survivor who filed the lawsuit partially to advocate for herself and her kids. And it isn’t about being anti-police, he added. It is about duty:

“It is concerning the primary precept on this nation that nobody, particularly not an harmless citizen, ought to worry being killed throughout a routine site visitors cease. A routine site visitors cease for a license plate violation, or a tint, or dashing – regardless of the officer used to cease my shopper, he had no proper to shoot her,” Davis stated.

‘Cops are given huge energy. And that energy brings duty.’

Even Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison vowed to carry Melvin accountable after reviewing physique digital camera footage that he described as “regarding” however which has not but been launched to the general public — regardless of the division’s coverage that footage of vital incidents like this should be launched inside 30 days.

In keeping with Maria Miller, a spokesperson for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Workplace, that is as a result of the Public Integrity Unit has requested that the video “not be launched whereas the investigation is ongoing.”

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy was nonetheless weighing potential costs towards Melvin as of Feb. 5, Miller confirmed.

Davis stated he has additionally been unable to acquire footage from Detroit police, and their line of communication stays lifeless regardless of a number of makes an attempt to contact them for data on the case. Discovering Melvin’s identify was exhausting sufficient, Davis stated.

“The silence is deafening,” Davis stated.

And within the meantime to Allen:

“I might be mendacity if I instructed you I am okay. Not mentally. Not bodily,” she stated.

The town of Detroit, the police division and Melvin’s union declined to touch upon pending litigation.

What occurred on October 26, 2025?

Throughout the Feb. 5 press convention, Allen stated she disagreed with Melvin about why she was stopped.

She stated she complied along with his demand for her driver’s license, registration and proof of insurance coverage, but issues shortly escalated — Allen suspects it was as a result of her insurance coverage was on her telephone and was “shifting too gradual for him” — a lot in order that she referred to as 911 and instructed the operator to remain on the road as a result of she feared for her life and Melvin requested for his supervisor a number of instances.

At a information convention a day after the capturing, Bettison stated a supervisor was by no means referred to as, however ought to have been, per division coverage. Melvin referred to as backup as a substitute. And when that backup arrived, an officer pepper-sprayed Allen as he tried to drive her out of her automobile, Bettison stated.

“At that time I used to be already outnumbered,” Allen stated.

Extra: Girl fingers over obvious human cranium to Chelsea Goodwill

Extra: Girl shot and killed in home dispute in Clinton Township, police say

So she drove away and tried to go to the closest police station. However then officers chased her and boxed her in — but extra violations of division coverage — and when she would not get out of her automotive, Melvin shot her, in line with each Allen’s lawsuit and Bettison’s account.

The chase ended at a close-by police coaching heart, the place Allen stated extra weapons had been pulled on her earlier than she instructed them she had been shot. She was hospitalized after which despatched straight to jail for an unknown crime. After Bettison noticed the footage, he ordered her quick launch and stated she wouldn’t be charged.

Among the many insurance policies Bettison stated Melvin violated:

• Police are usually not allowed to shoot at shifting autos until in excessive circumstances the place life is in danger.
• When a citizen asks to talk to a supervisor, that chance ought to be provided.
• Officers might not conduct automobile pursuits resulting from site visitors stops. They should be violent crimes.
• Police can not use their patrol automotive to field in or safe a automobile in an try to hold it shifting.

Bettison really useful that the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners droop Melvin with out pay. The board agreed.

The lawsuit additionally seeks to carry town accountable for Allen’s trauma and accidents, citing Free Press studies exhibiting that no Detroit law enforcement officials have been criminally charged in a capturing since 2011.

A 2024 Free Press investigation discovered that, over a seven-year interval, one-third of Detroit police capturing survivors weren’t charged or convicted for the conduct for which they had been shot.

And one other examine in September discovered that 20% of the division’s shootings — or 16 circumstances — over the previous decade started with nonviolent arrests and escalated to foot chases, usually when police suspected the suspects had been illegally armed. Prosecutors acquitted all of the shootings, saying their security was in danger.

Free Press author Violet Ikonomova contributed to this report.

Andrea Sahouri covers felony justice for the Detroit Free Press. Contact her at asahouri@freepress.com.