Posted on 10/16/2014 6:37:54 PM PDT by Citizen Zed
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- The family of a former small-town South Carolina mayor who authorities say was shot to death by a police officer he had complained about for aggressive behavior has been awarded $97 million in a federal wrongful death lawsuit.
Bert Reeves was shot in the chest with a service revolver belonging to Officer Randall Price in May 2011, along a rural dirt road. Price, who has not been charged in the death, is no longer a police officer. Authorities have said Reeves had objected after Price arrested an employee of his construction business.
Reeves' family sued and multiple media outlets reported the jury Wednesday awarded $7.5 million actual damages, $60 million punitive damages against the town of Cottageville and $30 million punitive damages against Price. The family had said in the lawsuit that the town should never have hired Price after his troubled employment history in different departments, including being fired.
Family attorney Mullins McLeod told the jury that Price shot Reeves because the ex-mayor raised concerns about the officer's behavior
Reeves wanted Price gone and Price retaliated, McLeod said.
"You certainly should be able to complain about a cop without fear of being killed," McLeod told the jury.
Price's attorney, Lake Summers, said the ex-Cottageville mayor suffered from bipolar disorder and was enraged when he confronted the officer.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktar.com ...
Who is the bigger fool? These idiot public ‘servants’ or S.C taxpayers.
If you can’t tell who the sucker is at the table....
Yep, Price the killer cop, is the only one that is normal in the county.
So... what I would like to know is where does this $97 million come from ?
30 million of the award is against Price, the shooter.
Collecting 97 million from an ex-cop and a small town in SC is going to be quite a trick
This is a real problem in many police forces. Cops don’t police cops and that’s a problem. The officers themselves know who’s a trouble cop and even the departments do before hiring. The blue line needs to be crossed and bad cops gotten rid of.
The incentives are all messed up. In Des Plaines, IL they caught about a dozen cops double dipping. They were clocking in on security work, while also on duty for the town. They were allowed to quietly resign so as to spare the mayor any embarrassment. Now they’re on other forces elsewhere, just like a cancer.
“Collecting 97 million from an ex-cop and a small town in SC is going to be quite a trick”
Piece of cake. You know own the town and can raise taxes. Town are nothing but corporations.
The taxpayers shouldn’t be paying all this. The perps and officials should pay for it, out of thier pension is needed
one of the more asinine awards, right up there with coffee.
Nobody is worth $97M
The mayor’s family will get $10 a year for the next 9.7 million years.
Where will. The $97 million come from? Simply asses $1,000,000 from each resident of the town.
Best you could do is either get a lein on the municipal property and try to squeeze it out of them or getting a judge to order a tax increase. You have no claim on the private property in town.
Wendy Davis and the Texas Trial Lawyers stand by this decision, no doubt.
“You have no claim on the private property in town.”
They do when they fail to pay the taxes necessary to collect on that debt.
“The taxpayers shouldn’t be paying all this.”
It is their town. They elected those officials.
“Bert Reeves was shot in the chest with a service revolver belonging to Officer Randall Price...”
Unwitnessed? If you’re going to shoot someone on a lonely country road, don’t use a weapon traceable to you.
The town didn’t shoot him. The perp and the officials should pay personally, not taxpayers.
Only a judge or elected officials can raise the taxes. The claimant is neither.
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