Ex-Detroit mayor’s ex-girlfriend-aide among several dropped from slain stripper’s civil suit

Several dropped from Detroit slain stripper’s suit

DETROIT — The one-time aide and former lover of ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and the city’s ex-police chief have been dropped from a lawsuit in the fatal shooting of a stripper.

Norman Yatooma is the lawyer for the family of stripper Tamara Greene, who danced as “Strawberry.” Yatooma says ex-chief of staff Christine Beatty, ex-Chief Ella Bully-Cummings and other police were dropped from the federal lawsuit at his request.

Kwame Kilpatrick and Detroit remain as defendants in the $150 million suit. Yatooma said Tuesday he hopes it moves faster with fewer defendants. The trial is to start in January.

Greene was shot to death in 2003 and is rumored to have performed at a never-proven party at the mayor’s official residence.

(This version corrects that ex-mayor’s wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, was dropped from the suit. Carlita Kilpatrick was never named as a defendant in the suit, but she will still be called to give a deposition in the suit.)