April 16, 201511 yr Family has filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit. Could see that coming. The family will have to prove that the Deputy was either negligent, or committed a wrongful act that resulted in her death. If they find that the Deputy's action was willful or grossly negligent, then they can recover punitives. I don't have time to look up how the state, or case law, has defined a "wrongful act," for the purpose of satisfying KY Statute 411.130(1), but I'd imagine it would have to go back to the whole event that the Grand Jury didn't find indictable. Who put the Deputy on the car, was it negligent on his part, or willful? Once he was on the car, was it grossly negligent for him to shoot her, or was it willful? If it was willful, was the action wrong? Are there defenses to his shooting her? The Grand Jury said that there were defenses, b/c her driving put him on the car and he shot her in self-defense. If it goes to trial, I'm guessing that it will go in front of a jury. That will be interesting to watch.
April 16, 201511 yr The article says they are suing because the officer didn't have probable cause. It will be interesting to see how this goes.
April 16, 201511 yr The article says they are suing because the officer didn't have probable cause. It will be interesting to see how this goes. That would go towards negligence/wrongful act.
April 16, 201511 yr As the family should IMO, and let this settle out in court. With a Federal suit, where is the jury pool from? Local? out of area?
April 16, 201511 yr As the family should IMO, and let this settle out in court. With a Federal suit, where is the jury pool from? Local? out of area? It will be local to what ever area that Federal Courthouse covers...generally several counties.
April 17, 201511 yr This is the part that really concerns me: The suit says Brockman's past includes making false statements on his job application, admitting to illegal sales of prescription drugs, prior illegal drug use Family of Samantha Ramsey files wrongful death lawsuit - Story ======================= Lawsuit or not, settlement or not, no comment or not every citizen of Boone County needs to hear a detailed explanation from the Sheriff's Department on these SHOCKING allegations.
April 17, 201511 yr This is the part that really concerns me: The suit says Brockman's past includes making false statements on his job application, admitting to illegal sales of prescription drugs, prior illegal drug use Family of Samantha Ramsey files wrongful death lawsuit - Story ======================= Lawsuit or not, settlement or not, no comment or not every citizen of Boone County needs to hear a detailed explanation from the Sheriff's Department on these SHOCKING allegations. So he used to deal drugs?
April 17, 201511 yr This is the part that really concerns me: The suit says Brockman's past includes making false statements on his job application, admitting to illegal sales of prescription drugs, prior illegal drug use Family of Samantha Ramsey files wrongful death lawsuit - Story ======================= Lawsuit or not, settlement or not, no comment or not every citizen of Boone County needs to hear a detailed explanation from the Sheriff's Department on these SHOCKING allegations. I have friends on the force who admitted to taking drugs in high school and they were still hired. They had to pass a polygraph before hired. Could this be something like that. I would think they would put whatever they could in the suit to build it up.
April 17, 201511 yr One of the arguments being made by Ramsey's attorney is that there was no legal basis for Brockman to stop the car. Is he correct?
April 17, 201511 yr I have friends on the force who admitted to taking drugs in high school and they were still hired. They had to pass a polygraph before hired. Could this be something like that. I would think they would put whatever they could in the suit to build it up. The prior illegal drug use allegation doesn't concern me too much. Often times that is marijuana or some experimentation in college. Not a deal breaker in my opinion as long as you are completely honest about it and pass the polygraph test. However, the illegal sales of prescriptions drugs allegation really has me wondering. There is a big difference between being a "drug dealer" and maybe selling some of of your adderall prescription while you are in college. I am certainly not condoning anything here just pointing out there is a wide range of possibilities and they are not all created equal. Now, the making false statements on the job application is probably a deal-breaker (for me) if this allegation is true.
April 17, 201511 yr One of the arguments being made by Ramsey's attorney is that there was no legal basis for Brockman to stop the car. Is he correct? Although I disagree with the premise, legally speaking I think the attorney does have a point. This kind of thing drives law enforcement officers crazy. In short, Brockman is going to have to specifically articulate his legal basis for the stop and there probably isn't one other than if he didn't stop the vehicle and something else bad happened down the road he would get sued for that too. It's basically a no win situation for any law enforcement officer.
April 17, 201511 yr I think a settlement is more likely than this suit going to trial. True, regardless of possible guilt or innocence. At this point the Insurance Carrier is in charge, if they can get out of this for a cheaper settlement than the cost of defending the officer they will. That's why a settlement doesn't always equate with admitted guilt, at this point it's all about the cheapest way out of this. If they can't get it dismissed out of hand, IMO they will try to settle due to financial concerns...not what's right or wrong.
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