Family Sues Atlanta Cops in Fatal Stabbing; Claims They Stood by as 14-Year-Old Was Killed

ATLANTA (CBS/AP) The family of a 14-year-old boy who was stabbed to death at a downtown Atlanta train station after the city's annual New Year's eve celebration claims an officer ignored his pleas for help before he was attacked.

The family of the victim, Reuben Hand, filed a lawsuit this week in Fulton County Superior Court claiming city transit officers did nothing when the teen told them a man was following and threatening him. The suit contends that minutes later the assailant approached Hand from behind and slashed his throat.

Hand's family said the boy was trying to get on a train when a man accused him of stealing a cell phone. An argument broke out, and he was killed.

Authorities have charged 36-year-old Tommy Christopher Collins in the killing.

A spokesman for MARTA, Atlanta's mass transit agency, declined to comment on the lawsuit.