Cops 'shot a boy, 17, twice in the back then removed the bullets with their HANDS' before paramedics showed up, lawsuit claims

A new lawsuit claims cops in Hayward, California unjustifiably shot a teenager twice in the back in June before removing the bullets from him by hand.

The lawsuit filed Monday centers on a shooting that took place around 4am local time on June 1, during the unrest sparked across the country following George Floyd's death at the hands of police.

According to the lawsuit, the 17-year-old boy - who is not named - fell asleep in his cousin's car outside of a CVS early in the morning after going to a music video shoot in Oakland.

When the teenager woke up, his cousin was no longer there and his cell phone had died, so he attempted to drive away from the scene after hearing loud noises, the suit claims.

A CVS in Hayward, California was the site of a police shooting now subject to a lawsuit

According to the lawsuit, police shot a 17-year-old as he was attempting to drive away

The 'frightened' teen then drove past officers who had pulled over a different car and alleges they opened fire and hit him in the back twice. 

He says he hid in bushes out of fear after taking the bullets.  

Officers then allegedly took the bullets out of the boy's body by hand before paramedics even responded to the scene.

'It’s barbaric the way in which they tried to minimize the harm they caused this young man,' said attorney Adante Pointer. 'It’s completely inappropriate and fortunately it didn’t cause more severe damage to him.'

'I feel like all they saw was a black face and just believed he did (a crime),' Jael Barnes, the boy's mother, previously said in June. 'Not only does he now have these physical wounds, he has these mental wounds, as well, which will never go away.'

Pointer tweeted a picture of the unidentified teenager's back wounds on Christmas. 

A picture on Twitter shows the alleged wounds the boy suffered at the hands of officers

Adante Pointer is the civil rights attorney representing the 17-year-old in this case

The Mercury News reports the police have a different view of what happened that night, when the county was under a curfew due to the unrest.

They responded to an incident at the CVS after reports of looting and potential gunfire at the pharmacy.

They proceeded to detain two men in a parked car as other vehicles began leaving the scene.

Officer Samuel Tomlinson was standing outside of his patrol car when the 17-year-old allegedly began driving towards him, forcing Tomlinson to fire upon the vehicle. Fellow officer Stephen Akacsos also fired on the vehicle in defense of his partner.

Police claim the shooting of the teen was justified because he was driving directly at them

The teenager was arrested on an assault charge against the officers, but that was dropped

After finding the 17-year-old in the bushes, medical staff treated a 'grazing wound' and took him to a hospital. After he was released, the teen was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon against a police officer.

The Alameda County District Attorney's Office has since dropped the assault charge against the teenager.

'Hayward police have consistently been on my radar, a police department where they sic dogs on people, beat people, shoot people and it rarely catches the public’s attention,' Pointer said.

'The public should be very concerned.'

The incident was the third officer-involved shooting in just 12 days for Hayward police

At the time time of the shooting, KTVU reported that it was the third officer-involved shooting with the Hayward police in just 12 days, with this one resulting in four arrests, including the teen behind the lawsuit.

Prior to that incident, police also wounded a 61-year-old with a knife and killed a suspect accused of killing a homeless man.

'Anytime you have a rash of police shootings, in particular at one department, it should be cause for concern,' Pointer said to the news station.

'Officers in Hayward, as officers are all over the Bay Area, are dealing with an increased level of violent crime that they're trying to keep a lid on,' said Nicole Pifari, an attorney for officers involved in the two shootings not cited in the lawsuit. 

 Hayward city attorney Michael Lawson told the Mercury News that the city had not been served with the suit and declined comment.