THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 22, 1995 TAG: 9503220264
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
A bystander who was shot by a police officer last year in his front yard described for jurors Tuesday how the officer held the gun with both hands and appeared to take aim before firing.
Two neighbors also testified Tuesday that they saw the officer holding the gun with both hands, and that the shooting was not an accident.
The testimony came in Norfolk's federal court on the first day of a civil trial. The shooting victim - Ronald L. Duck, 38, an unemployed custodian - is suing police officer Miles L. Warren for $1 million.
The lawsuit accuses Warren of negligence and depriving Duck of his civil rights. The suit originally named the city of Norfolk as a co-defendant, but the city was later dismissed.
Both sides agree that the officer was investigating a shooting at a nearby nightclub, that Duck was not a suspect, was not holding a weapon and was not making menacing moves when he was shot in the shoulder June 2. The shooting took place in front of his house on Grandy Avenue, near Princess Anne Road and Ballentine Boulevard. Duck spent four days in a hospital, racking up $6,000 in medical bills. He now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, a psychologist testified.
The officer was suspended for one week, pending an internal investigation, then reinstated.
Police say the officer's gun went off by accident. Duck says Warren shot him on purpose, although the officer never said a word before firing.
Duck's attorney, Jeremiah A. Denton III, told the jury he could not explain why Warren would want to shoot Duck. ``That's a question we can't answer and we won't try,'' Denton said. ``It's up to officer Warren to explain to you why he did it. . .
``Mr. Warren shot Mr. Duck for no reason while Mr. Duck was standing in his own front yard . . . minding his own business.''
Warren's attorney, Alan B. Rashkind, said the shooting was strictly an accident. He said the officer had stopped in front of Duck's house that night to investigate a car that had just pulled into a driveway next door. He said the officer misunderstood a broadcast over the police radio and thought the car matched the description of a suspect's car in the nightclub shooting.
As the officer got out of his police car, Rashkind told the jury, he dropped his flashlight, then tripped as he bent to pick it up. Warren's finger was on the trigger and the gun went off accidentally, he said.
The officer still does not believe his bullet shot Duck, Rashkind said. The bullet was never recovered, but police found the casing in the street. ``It's not clear whose bullet struck Mr. Duck,'' Rashkind told the jury. There has been no testimony, however, that any other bullet was fired.
On Tuesday, Duck testified that he was standing in front of his house, talking to his next-door neighbor, when the police car pulled up. He said he saw the officer get out of the car, walk toward him, raise the gun with both hands and fire. No words were spoken.
``It felt like an earthquake, like the ground was pulled out from under me,'' Duck said. ``So much pain entered my body.''
A neighbor across the street, Darlene Palmer, testified that she also saw the officer shoot Duck. ``He stretched out his arms and fired the gun,'' she said.
On cross-examination, Palmer acknowledged that she did not come forward with this story when police interviewed her that night. She said she was scared and feared retaliation.
Another neighbor who backed up Duck's story was Christopher Beaton, who lives next door. He was talking to Duck when Duck was shot. He said he did not see Warren's gun fire, but turned to the officer as soon as he heard the shot.
Beaton said the the officer was holding the gun with both hands, his arms were extended and the gun was smoking. He said the officer immediately remarked that it was an accident.
But, Beaton testified, ``I'm going to myself, `That gun didn't accidentally go off.' ''
Duck rested his case Tuesday. Today, several police officers, including Warren, are expected to testify. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MARK MITCHELL/Staff file
Ronald L. Duck, 38, an unemployed custodian, is suing Norfolk police
officer Miles L. Warren.
KEYWORDS: ASSAULT SHOOTING LAWSUIT
INJURIES by CNB