by Joe Tacopino
FLORIDA
June 1, 2018
A FLORIDA family was awarded just $4 ($A5) in damages for funeral expenses and pain and suffering after a jury found a local sheriff partially liable for the death of a 30-year-old man who was shot by a police officer while inside his garage. The family sued officer Christopher Newman and Sheriff Ken Mascara alleging wrongful death for the 2014 shooting of Gregory Hill, according to CNN.
Mr Hill, a father of three, was shot by Mr Newman three times after partially opening the garage and then closing it. Police were investigating a complaint of loud noise when they arrived at the residence. Mr Newman claimed Mr Hill was brandishing a firearm at the time. The officer was not charged with a crime. The jury decided that Mr Newman was not liable and that Sheriff Mascara was 1 per cent responsible for the death.
Mr Hill, the jury decided, was 99 per cent responsible for his own death. He was found with a gun in his back pocket. The jury awarded damages of $1 for funeral expenses and $1 for each off Mr Hill’s children — ages 7, 10 and 13. But because the jury found the chief only 1 per cent responsible, the family received only 4 cents. Cops claimed Mr Hill was drunk at the time he was killed.
The chief released a statement that said, “Newman was placed in a very difficult situation and like so many fellow law enforcement officers must do every day, he made the best decision he could for the safety of his partner, himself and the public given the circumstances he faced.” The family’s lawyer, John Philips, decried the verdict. “That a black child’s pain is only worth a dollar is exactly the problem with the plight of the African-American right now. This says, black lives don’t matter,” he said.
New York Post
