THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 24, 1995 TAG: 9503240428
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
A jury decided Thursday that a bystander who was shot by a police officer in his front yard last June is not entitled to compensation because the shooting was an accident.
The verdict in Norfolk's federal court means the jury believed officer Miles L. Warren, who testified that his gun went off accidentally after he dropped his flashlight and tripped while bending to pick up the weapon.
It also confirms a police review board's finding that the shooting was accidental.
The bystander, Ronald L. Duck, a 38-year-old unemployed custodian, claimed the shooting was intentional, that Warren raised the gun with both hands and aimed before shooting him with no warning.
Duck was shot through the shoulder while talking to a neighbor in front of his house on Grandy Avenue, near Ballentine Boulevard and Princess Anne Road. He was hospitalized for four days. Warren was suspended for one week, then reinstated.
Duck sued Warren for $1 million for gross negligence and violating his civil rights. The jury deliberated for an hour Thursday after hearing three days of testimony.
When the verdict was announced, Warren dropped his head into his hands and wept. ``I feel vindicated,'' he said later.
Duck showed no emotion. ``No good justice has been served in this case because I'm still in pain,'' he said later. ``I could have been killed.''
Outside the courthouse, his younger brother, James Duck, said: ``The jury felt it was an accidental shooting. Me and my family and Ron, we accept that .
By law, Duck had to prove that the officer used excessive force to effect a seizure - meaning Warren meant to shoot him - or that the officer was grossly negligent, showing ``such negligence that would shock other people.''
But if Warren proved the shooting was an accident, that was a defense to both charges, the judge told the jury.
Both sides agreed that Duck was an innocent bystander who did nothing to prompt the shooting on June 2. He held no weapon, made no menacing gestures or remarks and did not flee.
Warren was investigating a shooting at a nearby nightclub. He had a partial description of a suspect's car and thought he spotted the car pulling into the driveway next to Duck's house.
Warren stopped his patrol car in front of Duck's house and got out, holding a gun in one hand and a flashlight in the other. At that point, witness accounts differ.
Duck claimed that Warren walked around the patrol car, stopped at the edge of his lawn, raised his gun and fired for no reason.
Two neighbors testified to essentially that version in court. But both gave different versions to police on the night of the shooting. One said she didn't even see the shooting. The other said it was an accident.
Warren testified that he did not know his gun had fired when he tripped beside his patrol car.
A crucial point in the trial was the officer's position at the moment of the shooting. Duck and his neighbors said Warren fired while standing on Duck's lawn. Warren said he tripped in the street.
A police officer said he found the shell casing from Warren's gun in the street, apparently confirming Warren's version.
``If that casing is there, next to the car, that tells you what happened,'' Warren's lawyer, Alan B. Rashkind, told the jury. ILLUSTRATION: ALBA BRAGOLI drawing
Ronald L. Duck, left, and officer Miles L. Warren in court.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT NORFOLK POLICE DEPARTMENT SHOOTING by CNB