Judge refuses to toss lawsuit over deadly beating by police

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New Orleans • A federal judge has refused to dismiss a decade-old lawsuit's claims against the city of New Orleans over a 48-year-old handyman's fatal beating by police.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier's ruling Monday allows Raymond Robair's relatives to proceed with their claims that the city and former police superintendent Eddie Compass are liable for Robair's 2005 death.

Robair's two adult daughters claim his death fits a pattern of police brutality in New Orleans. Their case has a March 2017 trial date.

Former police officer Melvin Williams was sentenced to more than 21 years in prison for kicking and beating Robair with a baton. Another former officer, Matthew Dean Moore, was sentenced to more than five years in prison for submitting a false report and lying to the FBI.