D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb is facing sharp criticism from the families of two men killed by Metropolitan Police Department officers after his office moved to overturn a $655,000 civil jury award and fought to shield another officer from trial.
A civil jury found the District liable in summer 2025 for the 2020 death of Deon Kay, an 18-year-old shot in the chest by MPD Officer Alexander Alvarez during a foot chase in Congress Heights. The Office of the Attorney General is now appealing the verdict, arguing the award exceeds what the government believes the family deserves based on the evidence. The Kay family is waiting on a briefing schedule from the courts.
Attorney Yaida Ford, who represents the Kay family, told the Washington Informer that the appeal is costing taxpayers more, not less. Ford said the judgment accrues 4% interest daily while the litigation drags on, on top of whatever the AG's office spends to litigate.
"On one hand, he's fighting the feds and saying he doesn't want the National Guard here, but on the other hand, he's saying that when local police officers terrorize Black people, or make a mistake and kill someone in violation of the rules, that's something that he defends," Ford said. "That's not an even-handed approach to police accountability here."
Schwalb declined to discuss the Kay appeal specifically but defended his office's posture in an Aug. 12 interview with the Informer. He said that as the city's chief law officer, he has a duty to defend the District and to determine whether an appeal is appropriate when serious trial errors may have occurred.
The grassroots organization Harriet's Wildest Dreams has circulated a petition on Action Network demanding the OAG reverse course.
Rally planned for Kay's birthday
The Kay family plans a rally and prayer vigil on Tuesday, Aug. 18, what would have been Deon Kay's 24th birthday. His mother, Natasha Kay, told the Informer that the appeal is the latest in a string of indignities since her son's death, including an MPD raid on the family's new home searching for weapons. She said her other children still have nightmares and struggle to function because they miss their brother.
The U.S. Department of Justice did not pursue criminal charges against Alvarez. The D.C. Auditor found the shooting justified but acknowledged that Alvarez acted recklessly. Redacted body camera footage showed officers chasing Kay and intercepting his path before Alvarez fired. Kay appears to hold a gun in the footage, though some community members have questioned the tape's authenticity.
Second case heads to trial
The OAG also fought to dismiss a civil suit in the 2022 death of Kevin Hargraves-Shird, who was shot and killed by MPD Sgt. Ronaldo Otero Camacho at the end of a vehicular pursuit that started on Missouri Avenue NW and ended near Fort Slocum Park. Hargraves-Shird was running from a crashed vehicle when Otero Camacho fired.
In June, U.S. District Court Judge Christopher R. Cooper rejected the OAG's argument that Otero Camacho was entitled to qualified immunity. The U.S. Attorney's Office for D.C. declined to bring criminal charges.
James Shird, Hargraves-Shird's father, told the Informer that police could have simply arrested his son later rather than chasing him down and killing him. He said the shooting is constantly on his mind.
Schwalb won the June 16 Democratic primary with roughly 90% of the vote, running essentially unopposed. He faces a Republican challenger in the Nov. 3 general election. Ford predicted that a second term will make any pattern in the AG's handling of police-accountability cases clearer.
Jury selection in the Hargraves-Shird civil trial is scheduled to begin in November.
