Pubdate: Thu, 04 Jan 2001
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company
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Author: Al Baker

JURY AWARDS $2.25 MILLION IN '95 DEATH

GARDEN CITY, N.Y., Jan. 3 -- A federal jury awarded more than $2 million 
today to the children of a Long Island man who was fatally shot on the 
street five years ago by a Nassau County police officer.

The verdict underscored the jury's finding two weeks ago that the officer, 
Anthony Raymond, violated the civil rights of the man, Christopher Wade, in 
December 1995 when he shot him nine times after stopping him for a search 
in an area known for drug activity. In 1996, a grand jury cleared Officer 
Raymond of criminal wrongdoing in the fatal encounter, and he is now 
patrolling in the same precinct in Elmont where the shooting occurred, 
though in a different neighborhood.

Today in Federal District Court in Central Islip, jurors awarded $2.075 
million in compensatory damages -- including money for pain and suffering, 
funeral costs and the loss of parental support Mr. Wade would have provided 
had he lived. The eight-member jury also awarded $175,000 in punitive 
damages, after deliberating for 13 days -- an unusually long time for a 
federal lawsuit, said the county's lawyer, Paul F. Millus.

Nassau County is obligated to pay the damages on behalf of Officer Raymond, 
in line with state law and its police contract. Mr. Millus refused to say 
whether the county would appeal. Alan J. Reardon, a lawyer for the officer, 
said an appeal was likely.

On Friday, the county is to defend itself against the Wade family's claim 
that it was negligent in hiring and in not properly supervising Officer 
Raymond, who had been arrested twice and was the subject of complaints as a 
New York City police officer. The judge is to decide whether to go forward 
in the case, both sides said.

The plaintiffs had offered to withdraw their claim if the county agreed to 
bear some responsibility for the death of Mr. Wade, and consider setting up 
an independent review board, made up of civilians, to investigate 
complaints against officers that are deemed unsubstantiated by the Police 
Department. But Mr. Millus turned down the offer last week, and said today 
that the county had done nothing wrong in hiring Officer Raymond.

Frederick K. Brewington, the Wades' lawyer, said the claim against Nassau 
"has a potentially enormous impact on bringing an awareness to a county 
that needs to understand that something is broken and needs to be fixed."

Mr. Wade, 28, of Elmont, was the father of three young children, and his 
family said the finding today would guarantee some economic stability for 
his two sons and daughter, ages 4 through 10.

"I am happy that Chris's death did not go in vain," said Ervie Augustin, 
26, who was Mr. Wade's fiancee and is the mother of his youngest child. 
"And I am happy that his three children will have a better life."

The family and Mr. Brewington said today's verdict also provided a sense of 
justice in a case that led to bitterness and racial animosity in Elmont, a 
community already mistrustful of the police. Mr. Wade's friends said they 
believed he had been shot because he was black; the police denied that, 
saying that Officer Raymond, who is white, had feared for his life.

Shortly after 3 a.m. on Dec. 30, 1995, Officer Raymond confronted Mr. Wade, 
who was on parole for a drug conviction, on a dark street in Elmont. They 
struggled, and Officer Raymond fired 16 times after Mr. Wade did not obey 
repeated demands to drop his weapon, the police said.

Mr. Brewington insisted that Mr. Wade was not armed. A loaded gun was found 
at the scene, but it had not been fired and bore no fingerprints, Mr. 
Reardon said.

Officer Raymond, 37, has been arrested twice. As a teenage gas station 
attendant, he was accused of stealing $250 from his employer. Later, as an 
officer in the New York Police Department, he was charged with assault and 
official misconduct in an on-duty brawl outside a Queens bar. He was also 
named in 10 civilian complaints, including 19 separate allegations of 
wrongdoing, during his career of nearly 11 years on the city force.

But Mr. Millus said all of the criminal charges were dismissed, and the 
complaints to the city's Civilian Complaint Review Board were 
unsubstantiated -- meaning that they could be neither proved nor disproved. 
He said Officer Raymond had made more than 1,100 arrests in the city and 
received 35 commendations and other awards.

"It was an entirely valid and appropriate hiring with no fault to be 
attributed in connection with the hiring decision," Mr. Millus said. 
"Nassau County would have no reason to believe that previously dismissed 
criminal charges should in any way interfere with Officer Raymond's goal of 
serving the citizenry of Nassau County."

Mr. Brewington, the Wades' lawyer, cited a report by Edward Mamet, a 
retired New York police captain he hired for the case, that said the Nassau 
department should never have hired Officer Raymond in 1994.

"The hiring and supervision of Police Officer Raymond was improper," Mr. 
Mamet wrote in April 1999. "It is my opinion that N.C.P.D. failed to seize 
a unique opportunity to weed out a 'violence prone' recruit."
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