Amir Makled, the freshly minted Democratic nominee for the University of Michigan's Board of Regents, filed a $10 million wrongful-death lawsuit on behalf of a man who walked into Dearborn Police Headquarters, pulled a handgun, aimed it at an officer, and pulled the trigger, only to be stopped when the weapon jammed. The officer returned fire and killed the gunman. A prosecutor, a federal judge, and an appellate court all concluded the shooting was lawful. Makled sued anyway, the Washington Free Beacon reported, and his complaint never even mentioned that the dead man had a gun.
The case tells you something about the kind of judgment Michigan Democrats now reward with a seat on one of the state's most prominent university boards. It also tells you something about the legal industry that has grown up around second-guessing police officers who make split-second decisions to protect themselves and the public.
On December 18, 2022, Ali Naji, 33, entered the City of Dearborn Police Headquarters wearing a hat and a surgical mask. The lobby had been busy that day. Civilians were stopping by to drop off toys for the department's annual "No Child Without a Christmas Toy Drive."
Naji approached the front desk, where Corporal Timothy Clive sat behind a bullet-resistant acrylic window. He pulled a handgun from his waistband, aimed it at Clive, and pulled the trigger. The gun failed to fire. Naji then tried to fix the malfunction, reloading the magazine and pulling back the slide. Clive drew his own weapon and shot Naji, killing him.
Authorities later determined the handgun had been stolen from a local barbershop where Naji previously worked, AP News reported. Prosecutors said Naji had a known history of mental health issues.
The city of Dearborn later noted in court filings that it was "only by the grace of God that the lobby was empty when Naji arrived and that it remained empty throughout this absolutely stunning encounter." Families with children had been coming and going all day for the toy drive.
In 2023, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office investigated the shooting and concluded that Clive "acted in lawful self-defense and in the defense of others." Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy put it plainly, as Fox News reported: "Although extremely tragic, this is a clear case where the officer acted in lawful self-defense and in the defense of others." No charges were filed.
Worthy also stated that "Ali Naji objectively posed an imminent threat." Civilians had been entering and exiting the lobby for the Christmas toy drive, making the danger to bystanders real and immediate.
That should have been the end of it. It wasn't.
In 2023, Makled filed a federal wrongful-death complaint on behalf of Naji's estate, seeking $10 million in compensatory damages from both Clive and the city of Dearborn. The complaint alleged Clive used "unlawful deadly force." It argued that Naji "did not pose a physical threat" to Clive or anyone else because the officer sat behind a bullet-resistant window.
The complaint urged that Clive should have attempted "deescalation." It even cited department policy language about being "honest and polite," introducing yourself, and expressing "genuine concern and understanding", as though the proper response to a man pulling a trigger at an officer was a friendly handshake.
Most striking: the complaint described Naji as a "truly remarkable individual" whose "heart was big, his spirit unbreakable and his impact on everyone he met immeasurable." It called him a "man who lived his life to the fullest, always smiling, and full of love whose life was lost at the young age of thirty-three." It mentioned that he "loved soccer" and was "recently married."
What it did not mention, the Free Beacon reported, was that Naji had a gun and tried to shoot the officer.
The city of Dearborn's response was blunt. Attorneys for the city wrote that "no case holds that a plaintiff may ambush a police officer, attempt murder, and expect not to be shot." They added that Clive "obviously could not have allowed Naji to start shooting up the lobby. Doing so would have been a complete abdication of his sworn duty."
Dearborn's filing went further, noting that Naji "posed an immediate, ongoing threat not only to Clive, but to anyone who may have walked into the lobby, including other police officers, civilian staff, and the general public, such as the families who had been stopping by the police station throughout the day in support of the department's toy drive." The city also accused Makled and his fellow plaintiffs' attorneys of violating Michigan state laws against false or frivolous court claims.
U.S. District Judge F. Kay Behm tossed the lawsuit, ruling that the "force used by Clive was reasonable as a matter of law." The facts left no room for ambiguity: a man aimed a loaded weapon at a police officer and tried to fire it.
Makled did not accept the ruling. In 2024, he filed an appeal on behalf of Naji's estate. The appellate court sided with Dearborn, finding that "Clive's use of deadly force was objectively reasonable."
Three separate reviews, a prosecutor's investigation, a federal district court, and an appellate panel, reached the same conclusion. Clive acted lawfully. Every claim in Makled's lawsuit failed.
The Naji lawsuit is not the only entry on Makled's professional résumé that raises questions about his judgment. The Free Beacon previously reported that Makled represented an alleged ISIS terrorist charged with allegedly plotting to shoot up gay nightclubs. He withdrew from that case in February, about a month after launching his campaign for the Board of Regents, after the client could no longer afford to retain him. Makled had argued the charges were part of an "Islamophobic smear campaign."
The Free Beacon also reported earlier this month that Makled shared since-deleted posts on X referring to "martyr[s]" and urging others to "show no laxity." Less than two weeks before the Democratic Party nominated him, Makled joined a Senate campaign rally to introduce far-left candidate Abdul El-Sayed. El-Sayed's staffers were told he wanted to avoid making a public statement about the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Makled did not respond to the Free Beacon's request for comment.
The University of Michigan's Board of Regents oversees one of the largest public universities in the country. Its members set policy on everything from campus safety to admissions to billion-dollar budgets. Michigan voters elect regents on partisan ballots, and the Democratic Party's endorsement carries real weight in a state where the university system commands enormous public trust.
The party chose Makled earlier this month. His record was not hidden. The wrongful-death lawsuit, the ISIS-related defense, the deleted social media posts, all of it was either public record or had been reported before the nomination. Michigan Democrats looked at that record and decided it was good enough.
Consider what the Naji complaint asked a federal court to accept: that a police officer should have tried to calmly introduce himself and express concern while a man was pulling the trigger on a handgun aimed at his face. That the officer should have recognized a mental health crisis and de-escalated, in the seconds between the trigger pull and the gunman's attempt to clear the jam. That the man who tried to commit murder inside a police station during a children's toy drive was the real victim.
A prosecutor, a federal judge, and an appellate panel all said no. The Democratic Party of Michigan said yes, not to the lawsuit, but to the man who filed it, handing him a nomination to help govern one of America's flagship universities.
Voters will decide whether that judgment belongs anywhere near a public institution. The courts already told us what they thought of the legal theory behind it.
