Jury awards $2.4 million from county in police shooting

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Jury awards $2.4 million from county in police shooting

Laurel man says his belt buckle was mistaken for gun by officer who shot him

by Daniel Valentine | Staff Writer

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A Prince George’s County jury last month awarded more than $2.4 million to a Laurel resident who sued the county after he was shot by a police officer in 2006.

Darron M. Shaw, 32, was shot by Officer David Coleman around 5 a.m. Jan. 1, 2006, in District Heights. According to court documents, police were in the area responding to calls about gunshots and people fighting, and saw Shaw and his girlfriend arguing near a car. Coleman believed Shaw had a weapon and shot him in his upper body and arm, according to court reports. A gun was found in a nearby driveway, but lawyers argued over whether it belonged to Shaw.

Shaw and his attorney said at the trial that Coleman fired without adequate warning and that Shaw’s large belt buckle was mistaken for a gun.

The eight-member jury took less than a day to come back with the verdict, which includes $2.4 million in punitive damages, $5,000 for Shaw’s lost wages as a construction worker and $31,000 for medical bills.

Neither Shaw nor Coleman could be reached for comment.

Lawyers for Shaw and the Prince George’s government said the Feb. 28 judgment was the highest they could remember coming out of a police shooting case in decades.

‘‘In the dark, at least 45 feet away, Officer Coleman thought he saw a gun, and he shot five times,” said Walter Blair, Shaw’s lawyer. ‘‘And there were three people in that car. I think the jury saw that he could have killed Shaw, the driver, his girlfriend and her unborn baby.”

Maryland law caps punitive damage awards for civil cases against governments at $200,000.

Lawyers for the county said they plan to file a motion this month to request a new trial or reduce the damage award.

‘‘Of course, we’re very disappointed,” said Vernon Herron, the county’s deputy chief administrator for public safety. ‘‘We stand by what this officer did. He did the right thing to protect himself and the victim.”

Shaw, who spent a month in the hospital, was initially charged with weapons possession and assault. A jury convicted him of second-degree assault against his now-wife last summer in the case.

A department investigation cleared Coleman in the shooting two months after it happened. State prosecutors declined to file charges against the officer.

‘‘We found that shooting to be within department policy and legally justifiable,” said Marc Spencer, inspector general for the county police department.

According to a 2005 county report, Prince George’s spent more than $1.8 million on lawsuits linked to complaints about county police in the 2004 fiscal year. It spent another $4.6 million in the next fiscal year.

E-mail Daniel Valentine at dvalentine@gazette.net.