Fort Lauderdale Injury Lawyer Blog

Negligent gun shootings are on the rise in Broward and Palm Beach counties. Negligent shootings involve the unintentional discharge of a firearm. These typically occur when a loaded gun is not adequately secured and children or adults unfamiliar with a firearm get their hands on the gun which fires. The overwhelming majority of these incidents are easily preventable.

Since last year, nearly a dozen shootings have occurred resulting in serious injury or death which marks a dramatic increase over past years.

One of the most tragic stories involves a Deerfield Beach father who left his loaded gun in his pickup truck where his 10-year-old son discovered it and fatally shot his 11-year-old brother.

In the vast majority of negligent shootings, unfamiliarity with the firearms by the owner was the root cause. Many gun owners fail to understand that with semi-automatic weapons, even though the magazine which holds the bullets is removed from the gun, a bullet can still be in the chamber and can be fired if the trigger is pulled. In addition to simply a lack of knowledge regarding gun safety, every new hand gun sold today comes with a trigger lock which, if used, would have prevented all of the South Florida tragedies.

In each of these negligent shootings, the owner exhibited a lack of common sense. As long as the discharge of the firearm was not intentional, the victim of these shootings may recover from the gun's owner home insurance policy under a theory of negligence. If you or a loved one has been injured by the accidental discharge of a gun, you need to be aware of the possibility that you may be able to recover for your damages.

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A federal judge in Bay City, Michigan, recently approved a $1 million settlement in the wrongful death suit filed by the family of a Bay City teen filed by his family. The wrongful suit was filed in December 2009, following the death of 15-year-old boy died when Bay City police used a Taser to subdue him.

The autopsy showed the teen died of "alcohol-induced excited delirium" together with "application of an electromuscular disruption device." Officers claim the teenager was drunk and displayed an aggressive stance toward them when they were responding to reports of a fight. No charges were brought against the officers.

People often assume that since Tasers are less lethal than guns, that they are relatively safe to fire at people. In fact, Tasers have been involved in a number of deaths.

Because of the potential for serious injury and death, Tasers may result in wrongful death cases in the context of a civil rights action against law enforcement or even a civil lawsuit against a private party for assault and battery.

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Lona Varner, an 87 year old grandmother in El Reno, Oklahoma, agreed to settle the federal lawsuit she filed after police shocked her in her own bed with a Taser. The officers were also alleged to have stepped on Varner's oxygen hose depriving her of air.

Varner filed a lawsuit against the City of El Reno claiming she was wrongly stunned with a Taser. The police threw Varner's grandson to the floor and handcuffed him when he told officers, "Don't Tase my granny!"

Citing a confidentiality agreement, Varner's attorney would not disclose the amount of the settlement.

Police officers claim they entered Varner's apartment after learning that she might be attempting suicide with a drug overdose. They also claimed that the 87 year old Varner pulled a kitchen knife from under her pillow and said, 'If you try and get the knife, I will stab you and kill you.'" The officers claimed it was necessary to stun Varner to prevent her from attacking them. Varner denied making any threats to police and also denied attempting suicide.

While no one would deny that being a police officer is a dangerous job, it is hard to conceive how these officers could have felt legitimately threatened by this 87 year old granny and why they had to to stun her twice with their Taser. This absurdity was apparently the primary reason the City of El Reno settled this case rather than have a jury decide it.

As most of you know, the Taser is considered a less lethal means (as opposed to a gun) of stopping a dangerous suspect. The Taser fires an electrical dart into the suspect and stuns him or her with an electrical current. For the most part, people stunned with a Taser make a complete recovery. Perhaps because of the reduced potential for serious injuries to granny, the officers felt they could "teach a lesson" of respect to Varner with their Taser.

Indeed, Varner recovered, but the professional judgment of the officers in using this degree of force to restrain an 87 year old woman was questionable. The end result is that the city, on the eve of trial, paid money to settle this case.

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