THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 26, 1995 TAG: 9501260354
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
The widow of an undercover police officer who was killed last year in a botched sting operation while posing as a pizza-delivery man has sued the City of Newport News, the former police chief and three sergeants who planned the sting.
The federal suit, filed Wednesday in Newport News, seeks $8.5 million in damages. It accuses the sergeants of conducting a hurried, poorly planned operation without training the undercover officer or planning for trouble.
The suit also accuses former Police Chief Jay A. Carey Jr. of covering up the botched sting and failing to discipline the officers who planned it. Carey was forced to resign in May.
The officer, Steven R. Rutherford, 28, was killed while posing as a Chanello's Pizza delivery man on Jan. 11, 1994. The robbers discovered Rutherford's true identity and shot him four times as he lay helpless on the ground. Police had hoped the sting would capture robbers who were preying on pizza-delivery people in Newport News.
``It was haphazard. It was sloppy. It was a sacrifice of that officer,'' said the widow's lawyer, Stanley E. Sacks. The lawsuit describes the sting as ``an impromptu effort virtually launched on the spot.''
The suit says Rutherford and his partner were chosen simply because they were available and in plainclothes, but they received ``absolutely no training, instruction, or experience in how to safely, securely or effectively execute such a dangerous and daring operation.''
In addition to the city and Carey, the widow, Martha W. Rutherford, filed the suit against former Sgt. Barry Haddix and current Sgts. T.A. Zeitler and James O. Williamson.
KEYWORDS: LAWSUIT POLICE OFFICER by CNB