A federal judge has dismissed a civil rights lawsuit filed by the estate of Carl Dorsey III, a 39-year-old man fatally shot by a Newark police detective just after midnight on New Year’s Day in 2021.

U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton ruled Thursday that the City of Newark cannot be held liable for Dorsey’s death under federal law, rejecting claims that the city had a longstanding custom of tolerating excessive force and failed to properly train its officers.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for New Jersey by Tamara Fong, the administrator of Dorsey’s estate and guardian to his three minor children.

In the complaint, Fong alleged that Detective Rod Simpkins shot Dorsey without justification while patrolling a high-crime area in plain clothes.

According to court doc

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