# Dissecting a wrongful death lawsuit



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Dissecting a wrongful death lawsuit aimed at a police sharpshooter*

*Provided by Americans for Effective Law Enforcement*

Wahiawa is a picturesque community on the central plain of Oahu island, about 20 miles northwest of downtown Honolulu. Shortly after 2 a.m. on Sunday, June 3, 2001, trouble began at a late night graduation party. Dustan Dominic Long, 20, responded to three party crashers by firing multiple shots at them from a .22 calibre rifle. Two youths were wounded and hospitalized.
Honolulu patrol officers responded, but were later replaced by SWAT team members from the HPD Specialized Services Division. They tried to contact Long on his home phone, but he did not answer. At various times he yelled threats at the officers.
The standoff continued for more than two hours. Shortly before 5 a.m. he shot off a round and officers took cover. A police marksman fired, wounding the youth.1 
Not knowing whether others shooters might be present, officers requested an armored vehicle from the Hawaii National Guard. It did not arrive until 90 minutes after Long was shot. He was found dead in the back yard.
A federal civil rights lawsuit was filed by Long's mother, which also raised state claims. She alleged that:
1. Officers refused to allow a friend of Long's to negotiate his surrender.
2. Honolulu failed to properly train the SWAT officers on the use of deadly force.
3. Officers were consciously indifferent to her son's medical needs by waiting for an armored vehicle to arrive. He was allowed to "bleed to death" needlessly.
4. Superiors ratified the preventable shooting by failing to discipline the marksman.
The District Judge noted that:
1. Long shot at people (although he may not have known that he wounded two of them).
2. He was barricaded in his residence, surrounded by police. 
3. He told police to turn off the lights shining on the house, or he would shoot. At one point he yelled at officers that they had 10 seconds :to get the f*** out of his yard." 
In dismissing all claims, the District Judge wrote that the marksman "had probable cause to believe that Long was an immediate threat of serious physical harm to other officers located on the perimeter ... [and it] was objectively reasonable under these undisputed facts for [him] to believe that a shot was needed." _Long v. C&C of Honolulu_, 378 F.Supp.2d 1241 (D. Haw. 2005). 
A three-judge panel affirmed this ruling on Dec. 21, 2007. They refused to second-guess the adequacy of HPD's training program, the refusal of the incident commander to allow relatives to participate in negotiations, the marksman's decision to shoot, or the judgment to delay entry until after an armored vehicle was on the scene. _Long v. C&C of Honolulu_, #05-16567, 511 F.3d 901 (9th Cir. 2007). Both the trial and appellate court opinions are online at www.aele.org/long-honolulu.html

Full Article: http://www.policeone.com/legal/arti...death-lawsuit-aimed-at-a-police-sharpshooter/


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