Posted on 03/08/2008 12:35:19 PM PST by Abathar
LOS ANGELES - A jury awarded a man a $1.3 million verdict, saying deputies used excessive force when they peppered his sport utility vehicle with 66 bullets.
Winston Hayes, 46, suffered nine bullet wounds when deputies fired 120 shots at him at the end of a low-speed pursuit on May 9, 2005. More than half the bullets hit Hayes' vehicle.
"Justice was done," Hayes said after the verdict.
"We do hope this verdict acts as a catalyst for building relationships between the Sheriff's Department and the community it serves," said Brian Dunn, Hayes' attorney.
Lawyers for the county declined comment.
After 10 days of deliberations, the jury determined Friday that Los Angeles Sheriff's Department deputies Michael Haggerty and Vergilian Bolde used excessive force. Nine of the 12 jurors voted for the award, the minimum required in a civil case.
Deputies testified that they believed Hayes had attempted to run them down, and all said they only fired to save their own life or that of a fellow deputy. One deputy was caught in the crossfire but was only slightly wounded.
Thirteen deputies involved in the shooting received disciplinary actions ranging from written reprimands to 15-day suspensions.
Jurors said they discussed the past and motivations of Hayes, who had previous convictions for arson, assault, theft and resisting arrest. He conceded that he had used cocaine and marijuana the night the shots were fired.
Amateur video of the end of the 12-minute chase showed Hayes, who authorities believed had been involved in a shooting that night in Compton, stopped by a blockade of squad cars with about a dozen deputies approaching him.
The deputies opened fire after Hayes' SUV lurched forward and struck a patrol car.
Someone needs some more range time pretty bad! I can see not hitting him, but missing the car completely almost 50% of the time?
Talk about making sure to hit the deck when the LA cops open fire on someone!...
They almost deserve to have him survive and sue them if that is the best they can do.
There are many reasons why America fell, but the law must be top of the list.
For NO country in the world would offer a "Jackpot" to .....
Fill in the blank.
Only in America.
So this is why cops use hollowpoints......... they don’t want to shoot someone and have the bullet keep going and hit someone else. Of course, you gotta hit something first for this logic.
55% hit ratio of a car size target at probably a distance of about 20 feet.
HAHAHAHAHAHA! Wada bunch of loosers!
Almost 1 out every 2 shots hit the SUV, that great shooting for cops.
I bet LAPD has an “I almost shot and hit a car” medal.
“I shot and almost hit a car” medal eh?
An award?? Hayes was the only one in the vicinity who was in no danger whatsoever!
What a country we live in. How the hell do you give this guy anything other than jail time, much less 1.6 million dollars?
Hopefully he'll do something stupid and get thrown back into jail.
1.3 million.
“between the Sheriffs department and the community it serves”
The police ought to all walk out of that community and let it deal with it’s own beloved criminals.
They always do, like clockwork. Got to keep it real and all that...
The LAPD and the LA County Sheriff’s Department are two separate (and different) law enforcement departments.
What surprises me is the fact that this guy was shot NINE times and survived. I guess it wasn’t his time.
Judging by the way the cops were shooting I imagine they were counting ankle and leg hits too. Probably most were ricochets from the sound of it.
I'm betting he's learned his lesson and will become a productive, law-abiding citizen from now on.
(ps - I'm also betting that the Cubs will sweep the 2008 World Series 4-0.)
Attention all crack ho’s, muggers and pushers! Here comes Winston!
“striking one officer accidentally “
Im surprised no one was killed.
Get out of the way class was clearly missed by at least 13 deputies. Badges do not stop vehicles, handguns do not stop vehicles, they may cause em to overheat or go flat but they do not stop em.
POS Criminal and Dumb Deputies cost the taxpayer again.....LOL !
Hardly.
He was referring to his checkbook I do believe...
“Serves as a catalyst for better communications.????” Paying a gazillion dollar fine. Yup, should definitely lead to better relations. Kind of like when a divorced man is asked to pay for ex-wife’s house payment and her new honey is living there.
Talk about mental illness. What kind of thinking is this??
The scary thing is that people like him (or whoever told him to say it) actually believe the stuff they are shoveling most times.
Circular firing squad?
If there was even one officer in a position of being pinned or run down then the SOP is to kill the driver or try too......dumb part is never put yourself in such a position intentionally as the results are deadly and costly.
Several dozen rounds also hit neighborhood houses. It’s them not this clown that should receive the award.
Those big ole SUVs are hard to hit when the’re moving so they waited till it stopped. It surrendered without a fight.
Same thing happened to 50 Cent, and now he’s a millionaire many times over, largely because of this fact. Of course he wasn’t being shot at by cops, but another criminal, so far fewer shots were fired and a larger percentage hit their target.
This is a nightmare scenario I have worried about every time I see a video of the end of a chase.
Car comes to a stop. Cops run out and point guns at driver. Cops order driver to keep his hands up. Fine so far.
Then they order him to get out of the car, all the while pointing guns at him, and shouting for him to keep his hands up. Perp tries to say something, but they just keep shouting the same orders. Perp tries to get out, BUT THE ENGINE IS STILL RUNNING AND THE CAR IS IN DRIVE.
Of course the car "lurches" forward and hits whatever is in front of it as soon as the driver takes his foot off the brake. Why wouldn't it? The perp was pleading to be allowed to lower his hands long enough to shut off the car, but they had guns pointed at him & would not allow this.
Cops respond with more gunfire than the entire civil war and claim "he was trying to run us over."
I have watched this play out in at least two parking lot shoots I saw live on TV. Both of them, the perp ended up dead and never had a chance to explain his actions.
Now, explain to me just what you would do if you had a dozen or so cops pointing guns at you and ordering you to both keep your hands up and get out of the car while the engine is still running and the car is in drive? Oh, and don't dilly-dally around, they are going to start shooting if you don't move. And, they are not listening to a word you say.
L.A. man wins $1.3 million verdict....
can’t we all just get along????
affirmative action at its best....
to the police....if the bullets don’t kill....then pay the bill....
They probably were acting like they were in a movie, doing barrel rolls and jumping through the air while shooting two guns.
I guess you could just refrain from leading the police on a chase.
While I agree with that, the penalty for running from the police is not death by firing squad.
That is a hit percentage of 0.075%
Blind people probably could do better.
Jurors said they discussed the past and motivations of Hayes, who had previous convictions for arson, assault, theft and resisting arrest. He conceded that he had used cocaine and marijuana the night the shots were fired.
The guy is a known drug user (under the influence of cocaine and marijuana at the time), and felon who has also resisted arrest previously. He did (not denied) ram a police vehicle endangering police officers trying to apprehend him.
The cops could barely hit his vehicle, and yet he wins $1.3 million?
Payouts for criminals... I just don't get it. And guess how gets to pay that judgment - the taxpayers.
But mark my word - this will not be the last run-in with the law for this punk. His type (criminal repeat offenders) will screw up again.
My only question is, do I have to compile a criminal record first to get the cashback deal, or does this work for noncriminals too?
You have made an excellent point, I never really thought about it before but I will now.
An excellent suggestion.
I would pay to see the police walk out of my community.
So he will be back at it in a new car running from the police on our crowded LA freeways again! Just like Rodney King keeps getting arrested. Habitual criminals.
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