The family of 20-year-old Deshay Turner has taken St. Cloud police to federal court, arguing that body-camera footage shows he was doing what officers told him to do when they opened fire and killed him during a Dec. 14, 2025 encounter near a car dealership. The lawsuit claims the video undercuts the department’s official story and seeks accountability for what Turner’s relatives describe as an unnecessary killing.
According to St. Cloud police, officers responded to an alarm at the Starling Chevrolet lot after a report of suspicious activity, chased a man who ran from the scene, and fired after the suspect produced a gun. The department says officers repeatedly ordered the man to comply and later placed two officers on administrative leave during the investigation, as previously reported by WFTV.
Turner’s family counters that the body-camera video instead shows his hands visible and that he was following commands when shots rang out. They filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit on that basis, arguing the shooting was unjustified. Those claims, and the family’s public statements, were detailed by Local 10, which also noted its review of Florida court records did not find any adult felony convictions in Turner’s name.
What the Edited Video Shows
St. Cloud police released an edited compilation of body-camera clips from the Dec. 14 confrontation that includes officers repeatedly shouting for the suspect to show his hands, then abruptly pausing just before the gunfire, according to WESH. Reporters and Turner’s relatives have been pressing for the raw, unedited footage and additional records, arguing that key moments are missing and that the public cannot clearly see what happened in the seconds before the shooting.
Legal Fight Moves To Federal Court
The family’s complaint leans on excessive-force and wrongful-death theories commonly brought under federal civil-rights laws, including 42 U.S.C. A7 1983 (Legal Information Institute). If the case is allowed to move forward, the suit is expected to seek financial damages and to pursue accountability from both the city and the individual officers, even as separate administrative and criminal reviews continue behind the scenes.
Two officers were placed on administrative leave immediately after the shooting and were later returned to duty while internal reviews continued, local coverage has reported. Journalists from outlets including WFTV have requested the full, unedited body-camera files and related records as the federal lawsuit gets underway.
Turner’s mother told reporters she never imagined she would be burying her son and described him as not a violent person, remarks reported by WESH. Her grief, shared by other relatives and neighbors, has helped fuel calls for answers that now shift from a local shooting investigation to a federal courtroom, where a judge will ultimately decide how the department’s version of events holds up under legal scrutiny.
