Jury gives victim’s family $500K in Taser case

A federal jury has awarded a $500,000 verdict to the family of a 21-year-old man who died after Charlotte-Mecklenburg police stunned him with a Taser gun. La-Reko Williams died from a contraction of the muscles in his heart after Officer Michael Forbes shocked him twice with the Taser while responding to a 911 call. The jury found that the second use of the Taser was an unreasonable use of force.

Attorneys for Williams’ family said that all witnesses, including Forbes, agreed that Williams was already on the ground after the first time he was shocked and not trying to get up. The family’s attorneys also said that on an audio recording of the incident Williams can be heard asking why he was being detained before Forbes deployed the Taser in “drive stun” mode, where the Taser is applied directly to the suspect’s body.

“[Forbes] acknowledged that you’re not allowed to use the Taser just to get someone in the perfect handcuffing position, so I think the jury decided the second use of the Taser was not reasonable and not necessary,” said David Ventura of Crumley Roberts in Greensboro, one of the attorneys for Williams’ family.

The trial lasted for seven days, and the jury deliberated for about 14 hours before handing down its verdict. The court had previously granted summary judgment to the city of Charlotte based on qualified immunity. It also granted Forbes qualified immunity on the first use of the Taser, but not on the second use.

Williams’ survivors, his parents, had asked the jury for $3.5 million in damages.

Karonnie Truzy, also an attorney with Crumley Roberts, said the defense introduced unflattering evidence about Williams at trial. Forbes had arrived on the scene in response to a domestic violence call, although Williams’ attorneys argued that wounds on Williams’ face suggested that he was not the aggressor in the incident.

Truzy pointed out that all eight members of the jury were white. Williams was African-American, Forbes is white.

“You’re surprised that in an area as large as Mecklenburg you have no minorities included on the jury,” Truzy said. “You had an all-white jury, and yet they paid attention to the case and they worked so hard to reach a verdict. Some bad things came out during the trial about Mr. Williams, but they were able to set them aside and listen to the facts of the case and apply the law and come to the right decision.”

Forbes was carrying an audio recording device at the time of the incident, but it did not record the second use of the Taser, and the reasons for that were contested at trial. Williams’ family argued that Forbes intentionally turned off the device; the defense argued that the device malfunctioned. The issue was not specifically addressed by the jury.

An internal investigation by the police department cleared Forbes of wrongdoing. Charles Ali Everage, another attorney for Williams’ family, criticized the department’s decision not to have an outside agency investigate the death.

“It was very disturbing that internal affairs did not review the evidence that contradicted the testimony of Officer Forbes and did not consider the fact that the officer’s audio recording contained missing audio,” Everage said. “But when the jury considered the inconsistencies, they had to conclude that the officer’s actions were unreasonable.”

Williams’ family has not yet been able to collect on the judgment.

Forbes still has time to appeal the decision. Forbes’ attorneys did not reply to a phone call seeking comment on the case.

Follow David Donovan on Twitter @NCLWDonovan

VERDICT REPORT – WRONGFUL DEATH

Case name: Temako McCarthy and Victor Williams, co-administrators of the Estate of La-Reko Williams v. Officer Michael Forbes

Case number: 3:12-cv-838

Court: U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina (Charlotte)

Judge: Max Cogburn

Date of verdict: Aug. 28

Amount: $500,000

Attorneys for plaintiff: Karonnie Truzy (Charlotte) and David Ventura (Greensboro) of Crumley Roberts and Charles Ali Everage (Charlotte)

Attorneys for defendant: Lori Keeton and Beth Stanfield of Lincoln Derr (Charlotte)

Has the plaintiff been successful in collecting the judgment? No