It’s been a little over a month since an Immokalee man was shot and killed by a Collier County Sheriff’s deputy.
Sarasota lawyer Brent Probinsky is representing the family of Nicholas Morales-Bessania.
During a press conference in Naples on Wednesday, Probinsky said he requested for CCSO to preserve any evidence relating to the shooting.
"It was a long bureaucratic answer but the bottom line was, 'we don't acknowledge your request to preserve evidence'," Probinsky said. "So I’ll have to take my own measures to intervene to ask a judge to order those in possession of the evidence to preserve it."
Probinsky said the case could take several months to be reviewed by CCSO and the State Attorney’s office. He said asking a law enforcement agency to preserve evidence is "common" in civil and criminal cases.
"Once we review all that, we'll decide whether we think there is a valid civil lawsuit of wrongful death against the Collier Sheriff's office for excessive use of deadly force," Probinsky said.
Numerous local organizations including Collier NAACP and the Collier chapter of Moms Demand Action spoke in solidarity with the Morales-Bessania family demanding transparency throughout CCSO's investigation.
Nicholas Morales Bessania was shot Sept. 17 in the Farm Worker Village Community in Immokalee.
