Parents of teen-ager killed by NLV officer file lawsuit

The parents of a slain teen-ager filed a $7 million lawsuit Friday against the North Las Vegas Police Department and the officer who fatally shot their child.

Billy Finks Sr. and Sherry Finks, who are represented by Henderson attorney Thomas Peterson III, filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas.

North Las Vegas police officer Anthony Bailey killed 16-year-old Billy Finks Jr. on Feb. 27 after a vehicle pursuit that ended on a dead-end dirt road.

After an inquest in March, a coroner’s jury ruled unanimously that Bailey was justified in shooting the boy. Bailey said he fired at the teen-ager after Finks brandished a toy gun that the rookie officer believed was real.

The only other witness to the shooting, Finks’ 15-year-old friend Demario Payton, testified that Finks had his hands in the air and was not holding the gun when Bailey shot him.

But much of Payton’s testimony was incoherent and contradicted by two videotaped statements shown to the jury. On those tapes, the teen tells a police homicide investigator he believes Finks threw the toy to the ground after he was shot.

Payton testified that his statements to police were coerced.

The wrongful death lawsuit claims Bailey’s actions constituted excessive force. The document makes no mention of the toy gun.