"Family of mayor slain by cop awarded $97 million" AP October 17, 2014
CHARLESTON, S.C. — The family of a former small-city South Carolina mayor who authorities say was shot to death by a police officer he had complained about for aggressive behavior has been awarded $97 million in a federal wrongful death lawsuit.
Bert Reeves was shot in the chest with a service revolver belonging to Officer Randall Price in May 2011, along a rural dirt road. Price, who has not been charged in the death, is no longer a police officer.
Was Reeves black?
Authorities have said Reeves had objected after Price arrested an employee of his construction business. Reeves’s family sued and multiple media outlets reported the jury Wednesday awarded $7.5 million actual damages, $60 million punitive damages against the city of Cottageville, and $30 million punitive damages against Price.
The family had said in the lawsuit that the town should never have hired Price after his troubled employment history.
Family attorney Mullins McLeod told the jury that Price shot Reeves because the ex-mayor raised concerns about the officer’s behavior.
Price’s attorney, Lake Summers, said the ex-Cottageville mayor suffered from bipolar disorder and was enraged when he confronted the officer. Summers said Price fired in self-defense. Cottageville has several weeks to appeal.
Yeah, if you are killed by AmeriKa's security services you deserved to die.
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