Tag Archives: wrongful death

A federal jury has ordered police in Long Beach, Calif., to pay $6.5 million to the family of a man shot dead by police officers. Douglas Zerby was sitting in front of a friend’s apartment in December 2010 when two officers shot him 12 times. They thought he was holding a gun; he was playing with a garden hose with a metal nozzle. Zerby’s family sued the police department, arguing officers Victor Ortiz and Jeffrey Shurtleff didn’t identify themselves, order …

The parents of Trayvon Martin ­– the teen shot by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Fla., in February 2012 – have reportedly settled their wrongful death claim against the homeowners’ association of the Retreat at Twin Lakes, where Zimmerman was a member of the neighborhood watch. What that means for the state’s prosecution of Zimmerman for second-degree murder and his self-defense claim is not yet clear.   Change of Heart Zimmerman was the neighborhood watch captain at the development where he …

A Colorado woman is facing straw-purchasing charges for supplying a gun to the man suspected of murdering the head of the state corrections department. Stevie Marie Vigil was arrested for buying a handgun and then allegedly transferring it to Evan Ebel, who police believe used it to shoot and kill Tom Clements, executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections. Ebel, 28, is also suspected of killing a Domino’s Pizza driver before he was killed himself in a shootout with …

Lawsuits filed against the National Football League by the family of deceased star Junior Seau have been merged with an existing class action suits covering thousands of former players. Seau spent 20 years as one of the most feared defenders in the league, most famously with the San Diego Charges and later with the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots. His parents filed one suit and his four children another after the 43-year-old committed suicide last year. The plaintiffs argue …

Two friends who were thrown out of a bar for being drunk and then drove separate cars that crushed a construction worker were ordered to pay $5 million to the victim’s two children. The drivers who caused the freak accident, Jeffrey Dupree and Tracie Nininger, were drunk when they were told to leave a restaurant in downtown Roanoke, Va. They got into separate vehicles, a Hummer H3 and a Chevy Avalanche. As they both drove past a construction site where …