Court clears the family to seek punitive damages against St. Louis University and its security officer in the 2021 killing of Omar Zulueta Jr.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (September 22, 2026) — Nationally renowned civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump, together with co-counsel Phillip Georges, has been retained by the family of Omar Zulueta Jr., a 36-year-old Black father who was shot and killed by a St. Louis University security officer in June 2021.

Zulueta’s mother, Dorothy Slaughter, filed a wrongful death lawsuit on April 16, 2024, in the St. Louis Circuit Court against security officer Steven G. Roy and St. Louis University, alleging negligence and a failure to properly hire, train, and supervise. The petition alleges that Roy shot and killed Zulueta with reckless indifference to and conscious disregard for his life.

According to a recent court order, the Zulueta’s family and their legal team presented clear and convincing evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that Roy acted with deliberate and flagrant disregard for the safety of others, and that St. Louis University may be held liable both vicariously and directly. The court found that a reasonable jury could conclude the university knew or had reason to know that arming and deploying officers who lack the necessary training created a high probability that an officer would improperly use deadly force.

The ruling puts St. Louis University’s own conduct squarely at issue and exposes the institution to punitive damages. Attorney Crump and co-counsel Phillip Georges are calling on the university to take responsibility for Zulueta’s death and resolve this case, rather than force a grieving mother through years more of litigation to reach a result the court has already signaled a jury could deliver.

Attorney Crump released the following statement:

“Omar Zulueta Jr. should be alive today. A court has now recognized that a jury could find his life was treated with deliberate and flagrant disregard. St. Louis University put an armed officer on the street without the training to wield that power responsibly, and then spent years fighting the grieving mother of the man he killed rather than answer for what happened. Five years later, Dorothy Slaughter is still carrying this loss and still seeking accountability for her son. We hope the university will do what is right by this family.”