This police shooting case was tried before a Buncombe County Superior Court jury for two and a half weeks from March 24 to April 9, 2014. Plaintiff alleged that the defendant-officers acted maliciously- and were therefore liable in negligence and for punitive damages- in discharging their firearms at the suspect-driver during a vehicular pursuit, but missing him and striking his passenger, the injured plaintiff. Plaintiff sought recovery for medical expenses exceeding $250,000 and asked the jury to return a verdict at or above $2,000,000. After a little over a day of deliberations, the jury returned a complete and unanimous defense verdict as to all three defendant-officers. The defendants were represented by NCADA member
Jason R. Benton, who practices in the Charlotte office of Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP. Print media coverage of the result may be found here: http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/crime/2014/04/09/jury-asheville-officers-acted-without-malice/7531585/.
