On March 23, Florida police shot and killed 30-year-old Linus Phillip Jr. after stopping him at a gas station.
Days before his funeral on April 31, detectives from the Largo Police department entered a funeral home where he was being held and tried to use his fingerprint to unlock his iPhone according to The Root. Phillips family was at the funeral home when detectives came for his fingerprint.
Though unsuccessful, the officer’s actions have hurt the family fo Linus Phillip Jr. “So they are allowed to pull him out of the refrigerator and use a dead man’s finger to get to his phone. It’s disgusting,” Phillip’s girlfriend Victoria Armstrong the mother of their two kids. “We are fighting to find out what happened.”
The Sylvan Abbey Funeral Home did not immediately respond to a request for a comment from ABC News.
The Tampa Bay Times confirmed that the incident did happen after talking with Lt. Randall Chaney. He explained that the detectives didn’t think they needed a warrant because there is, “no expectation of privacy after death.”
A spokesperson from the police department explained that, “The case is still presently active, however, sometime in the near future the investigation should be concluded and the report will be available for any public records requests.”
According to a press release on March 23, the Largo Police Department stopped Phillip because his windows were tinted which breaks Florida law. Phillip was driving a rental car when he stopped at a Wawa gas station when he was approached.
Upon showing officers paperwork for the rental car, they asked Phillip why his car smelled like marijuana. In the press released police said they informed Phillip that they were going to search him. When they when they went to do it, they say Phillip jumped into the driver seat of the car and tried to get away.
Phillip reversed the car as a cop was hanging off which caused him to shot his gun fearing for his life. He shot Phillips four times which resulted in this death.
“It is the conclusion of the State Attorney’s Office that the death of Linus Phillip Jr. was the result of having been shot by Officer Matt Steiner in the legal performance of his duty and the shooting was justifiable homicide,” according to the press release.
Phillip was killed just after his 30th birthday and his family is asking for the release of video footage from the incident.
“They killed him after his 30th birthday. Oh god, he turned 30 on March 11,” Martha Hicks, Phillip’s mother. “It’s too much, too much. We just want to know what happened.”
At the time of the incident, Philip had crack cocaine, powdered cocaine, marijuana, hydromorphone pills and over $1,500 in cash on him. However, he was not carrying a gun according to the criminal report.
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(Source: ABC News & The Root )
(Photo Credit: ThinkStock Images)
