Grief has no timeline… so why does the law pretend it does?

In many states, families are only given 180 days — just six months — to file a legal claim against a police department for negligence, misconduct, or mishandled investigations.

But when your child dies… your world doesn’t just change — it stops. Time doesn’t move forward the same way for a grieving parent. Days blur into nights. You forget to eat. You forget how to breathe. You wake up every morning praying it was all just a bad dream. And during that time… the law expects you to lawyer up, collect evidence, and file paperwork?

That isn’t justice. That’s cruelty disguised as procedure.

I know this because I lived it.

My son was barely 18. A recent high school graduate. A football player. An honors student. He had his whole life ahead of him. And then, one night, everything changed. He was killed in what appeared to be a road rage incident.

But instead of treating his death with the seriousness and urgency it deserved… the police profiled him. They downplayed it. They ignored critical leads. They failed to preserve nearby traffic cam footage — even after admitting they had only three days to retrieve it. They let it vanish.

So I did the unthinkable. I became the investigator of my own child’s death.

I tracked down footage. I contacted businesses. I pieced together camera angles. I gathered physical evidence and handed it over to law enforcement. Me. A grieving mother. Doing the job they were supposed to do.

Eventually, the police admitted they had identified the make and model of the vehicles responsible. They even confirmed the cars had returned to the scene. But by then… it was too late. Because they didn’t act when they should have, the leads went cold. And we were left with nothing but unanswered questions and broken hearts.

When I finally reached the point where I could think clearly — where I had just enough strength to pursue legal action — I was met with six words that shattered me all over again:

“You missed the deadline to file.”

I didn’t miss it.

I was surviving. I was mourning. I was doing everything I could to keep breathing while also trying to find truth in the silence left behind.

Six months is not enough time. It’s barely enough to bury your child, much less untangle the mess of bureaucracy, legal documents, and evidence trails that law enforcement should have managed in the first place.

This isn’t just about me. This is about every family who has been devastated by police negligence or misconduct… and then silenced by an unforgiving deadline.

That’s why I’m calling on lawmakers to extend the legal filing deadline for police-related claims from 180 days to at least two years. Because grief has no timeline — and justice shouldn’t either.

Families deserve the space to mourn. They deserve time to process, to gather facts, and to pursue the truth… without being rushed into legal action before they’ve had a chance to breathe.

Please sign and share this petition.

Do it for the grieving parents who can’t find their words yet.

Do it for the sons and daughters who no longer have a voice.

Do it to hold institutions accountable… even when they fail us at our most vulnerable.

Let’s demand a system that reflects compassion, common sense, and true justice.

Let’s change this law… and give families back the one thing they need most: time.