Tennessee police officer denies conspiracy in partner’s death

A deputy county sheriff in Tennessee testified in a wrongful death suit recently that he did not conspire to kill his partner. Marty Carson shot and killed his partner, Hubert Yancey, during a policed raid in 2003. During the wrongful death trial, Carson denied soliciting another man, Richard Babb, to kill Yancey. Carson testified he and Yancey were friends and that he had no reason to want him dead. Yancey’s widow, Lori Ann Yancey, brought the suit, and is seeking $10 million in damages. The suit alleges that Carson was involved in drugs, and that Yancey had discovered that. The case is being tried in federal court in Knoxville.

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Family sues for wrongful death of elderly New York woman

The family of an 85-year-old Waterford, N.Y. woman is suing the nursing home where she lived for wrongful death. Helen Casale died in 2006. She lived at Maplewood Manor, a 277-bed nursing home in the town of Ballston Spa. According to the lawsuit, the elderly woman suffered dehydration, sepsis, ulcers and an infection in August of 2006 and was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died. A trial date will be set later in the case.

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Wrongful death suit filed in California shooting

The mother and child of an Oxnard, Calif. man have filed suit against Ventura County, claiming that a Ventura County deputy sheriff wrongfully shot and killed Adrian Canley last year. According to the suit, Senior Deputy Sheriff Shane Matthews shot Canley negligently and without good cause, justification or provocation. According to police reports, Deputy Matthews went to the Crestwood Chalets apartment complex to investigate an unrelated incident. An agitated Canley allegedly approached Matthews and tried to strike him with his pickup truck. Matthews allegedly warned Canley several times and then fired several shots at Canley’s truck, striking the man. After he was shot, police said they found a loaded pistol in his waistband. An investigation by the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office into the shooting is nearing completion.

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Pawtucket, R.I. denies claim in death of woman

City Council members in Pawtucket, R.I. have rejected a claim filed by the family of a woman who bled to death waiting for a Fire Department ambulance. The council’s Committee on Claims and Pending Lawsuits voted to deny the claim. The family of the woman, Maria G. Carvalho, must now file a wrongful death lawsuit if it hopes to recover any damages from the city. Mrs. Carvalho bled to death in September. City dispatchers failed to send an ambulance to her home even though the family and neighbors had called 911 three times. The 53-year-old Mrs. Carvalho was being treated for kidney problems, and she bled to death through a shunt that had been inserted in her arm so she could receive dialysis treatments. Meanwhile, the city has fired two dispatchers who were on duty when the incident happened.

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Portland, Ore. settles wrongful death suit

The City of Portland, Ore. will pay $500,000 to the family of a man who was shot to death by police in 2005. The family of Raymond Gwerder had filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city after Gwerder was shot to death at a Portland apartment complex. The 30-year-old Gwerder was shot in the back by a police sniper while he talked via cell phone with a police negotiator. The sniper said he shot Gwerder because he feared Gwerder might shoot through the wall of a home next door. A grand jury ruled that Besner did not break any laws.

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Settlement in shooting death of Florida teen still unclear

It’s still not clear who, if anyone, will collect damages in the death of a 16-year-old Delray Beach, Fla. boy who was fatally shot by a Delray Beach police officer more than two years ago. In September, Delray Beach commissioners voted in favor of a $1 million payment in the wrongful death case of Jerrod Miller. But the settlement was not approved by Miller’s father, who was a co-plaintiff in the case. Lawyers for the family had sought $7.5 million. Legal actions in the case now center around which family members have standing, and which can collect the money. Delray Beach police officer Darren Cogoni shot Jerrod Miller in the head as Miller drove a car along a breezeway at the Delray Full Service Center during a dance. Cogoni was fired but was never charged with a crime.