A matter of force: $97.5M jury award trains a spotlight on the issue of law enforcement hiring

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A jury deliberated just four hours before delivering a verdict and a message: $97.5 million — including $90 million in punitive damages — to the family of a man shot dead on a country road by a small-town police officer with a spotty history.

In Reeves v. Town of Cottageville, et al., a jury found on Oct. 15 that Cottageville negligently hired, supervised, trained and retained officer Randall Price, a man who had cycled through eight law enforcement agencies in 11 years, and had been fired from four. It further found that Price used excessive force in killing Carl “Bert” Reeves, the town’s former mayor, who had been vocally critical of what he perceived to be Price’s aggressive policing style and was collecting petition signatures to have him ousted.

Reeves’ ex-wife, Ashley Reeves Lowe, filed the suit after the May 16, 2011 shooting to which Price is the only surviving witness. Cottageville had unsuccessfully moved to have the plaintiff’s attorney, Mullins McLeod, disqualified because he once served as the town’s attorney. U.S. District Court Judge David Norton in August denied the motion, holding that it was an attempt to delay trial, unduly prejudice the plaintiff and “waste the parties’ time and money.”

The case poses the question: How was Price able to continue finding employment in a profession where certain pillars are expected? A lack of communication between hiring agencies could be among the explanations.

Price had been accused of misconduct, insubordination and using excessive force on the job. He was fired from the Aiken County Sheriff’s Department in 2001 after being charged with criminal domestic violence. The charge was later expunged after he completed a pretrial program. His law enforcement certification was once revoked by the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy.

Maj. Florence McCants, spokeswoman for the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy, said that the agency was powerless to hold Price accountable for an expunged charge. Regarding the reasons for his terminations, she said the academy depends on local agencies sharing information with one another — and the academy — so that information can be placed in a file and passed along.

McCants said that on several occasions Price flirted with offenses rising to the level of misconduct, the standard that allows the academy to decertify an unfit officer. The “seven deadly sins,” as McCants called them, include being untruthful and using excessive force. But sometimes vague reporting by agencies leaves the academy’s hands tied, she said. For instance, a department may report to the academy that an officer was fired for a policy violation or insubordination but will not specify the offense.

“We’re left to go with the letters we receive,” she said.

“Small-town politics,” McCants said, also played a part in Price’s continued employment. In one instance, she said, a mayor complained about Price’s performance and alleged excessive force. But that complaint was rebutted by a police chief who said the mayor was trying to win an election, and that Price did a good job in the high-crime area in which he worked.

Small towns often struggle to find certified officers willing to work for lower wages in a smaller applicant pool.

“When an agency sees that red flag, they’re not obligated to hire,” she said. “They can say, ‘Something about this just doesn’t fit right,’ but if they choose to and if it’s a problem employee, you’re somewhat adding to that problem.”

In an interview with The Colletonian, Cottageville Mayor Tim Grimsley rebuffed the notion that the town’s hiring practices are flawed, saying that small towns often rely on information provided by the academy when deciding which officers to hire.

“If we were in Los Angeles, we could afford to do a 40-year background check, and do lie detector tests,” he said.

During trial, McLeod suggested that regardless of his history, the thousands of dollars Price wrote in traffic tickets made him a valuable asset to the town.

Grimsley told the paper he was unsure how the town’s $1 million insurance policy through the S.C. Municipal Association will help pay for the verdict or what the town of fewer than 800 residents and an annual budget of about $600,000 would do should this ruling stand.

The association declined to comment. Association manager Casey Fields said the town’s insurance policy with the association bars her from discussing the case.

University of South Carolina School of Law tort professor Patrick Hubbard told The Post & Courier that the final judgment can still be reduced after a required judicial review of the punitive damages or a successful appeal.

“I would be surprised if the defendants are not already working on their post-judgment options,” Hubbard told the newspaper.

Cottonville attorney Vinton “Dee” Lide confirmed that an appeal will be filed. Price’s attorney, Lake Summers, did not return a request for comment.

In 2012, Cottageville placed Price on leave without pay pending the investigation. Statutes allow one year for this action, McCants said, confirming that Price is no longer certified as a police officer.

Ashley Reeves told her attorney she is thankful for that.

“I cannot thank the jury enough for their courage to do justice in this case,” she said in a press release. “My children take great comfort in knowing their father’s name has been cleared and that this officer will no longer carry a badge and a gun.”

McLeod did not respond to requests for comment but said in that same release that most lawsuits include one party with the long end of the stick and one with the short.

“In this case, the Reeves family had a branch and the town and Randall Price didn’t have as much as a splinter,” he said.

Chris Mills owns an eponymous firm in Columbia and specializes in criminal and civil rights law. Police misconduct represents a bulk of his work and he believes that the jury’s verdict shows that it felt that Cottageville was negligent and “deserved to be hammered for it.”

“The $90 million (in punitive damages) represents the message that this is absolutely intolerable … that the conduct of this officer and the conduct of this town in putting this officer on the streets is just reprehensible.”

McLeod’s co-counsel, James Moore III, said it is vital that towns screen out those likely to abuse the powers that law enforcement officers wield.

“The jury’s verdict demonstrates the Town of Cottageville was deliberately indifferent to the constitutional rights of its citizens,” he wrote, adding that the family is now hopeful that criminal charges will be brought against Price.

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division spokesman Thom Berry said the investigation into Reeves’ death remains open.

WRONGFUL DEATH/NEGLIGENCE

Case name: Ashley Reeves v. Town of Cottageville, et al.

Case number: 2:12-cv-02765-DCN

Verdict amount: $97.5 million ($7.5 million actual, $60 million punitive against town, $30 million punitive against Price)

Date of verdict: Oct. 15

Attorney for plaintiff: Mullins McLeod, James Moore III and David Roberts of the McLeod Law Group in Columbia

Attorneys for defendants: Lake Summers of Malone, Thompson, Summers & Ott in Columbia for Randall Price; Vinton Lide of Lide and Pauley in Lexington for the Town of Cottageville and the Cottageville Police Department