The family of 30-year-old Gregory Hill, who was shot and killed by police, was rewarded only $4 for their loved one in a wrongful death lawsuit.
On Jan. 14, 2014, two St. Lucie County sheriff's deputies responded to a noise complaint made around 3 p.m.
A mother picking up her children from school heard loud music coming from a nearby garage when she called in the complaint. Deputies Christopher Newman and Edward Lopez arrived at Hill’s home where the garage door was closed. Officers banged on the door, and Hill revealed himself with a gun in hand, according to WPTV.
Newman and Lopez said in their incident report Hill shot at them. Family members dispute whether he did so.
After the fatal encounter, Hill was found dead by the SWAT team in the garage with an unloaded gun in his back pocket, reports The New York Times. Attorneys question if Hill could have moved the gun to his pocket during the shooting.
"Any homeowner can have a gun in their home that is true. However, when law enforcement arrives at your home doing lawful duty and you're confronted with law enforcement and they give you an order to drop that gun, the last thing anyone should do is raise that gun," said Sheriff Ken Mascara in 2014.
Toxicology reports state Hill was inebriated at the time of the shooting. Family members say that didn't warrant his killing. They filed a wrongful death suit to determine if Hill's constitutional rights were violated. Jurors awarded only $4 in damages: $1 for funeral expenses and $1 for each child’s loss, per The Times.
"Why would you come to a call that says loud music and it turns into a deadly killing?" asked Hill's cousin Sylvia Tomie in 2014.
“I don’t get it,” family lawyer John M. Phillips said Thursday, May 24, after the verdict. Phillips said the family was seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars for the death of Hill, but jurors in the case did not get all of the facts to make a sound decision. A grand jury did not bring criminal charges against Deputy Newman.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Hill’s fiancée, Monique Davis, said. “There are a lot of questions I want to ask.”
Mascara took to Facebook to praise jurors for bringing an end to the case.
“Deputy Newman was placed in a very difficult situation, and like so many fellow law enforcement officers must do every day, he made the best decision he could for the safety of his partner, himself, and the public given the circumstances he faced,” he said. “We appreciate the jury’s time and understanding.”
About eight hours into the deliberation, jurors appeared to have given up, Phillips said.
“I think they were trying to insult the case,” Phillips said of the jury. “Why go there with the $1? That was the hurtful part.”
Davis said she will fight until the family receives the answers they seek.
“I’m going to keep fighting until I get some justice,” said Davis, who had planned to marry Mr. Hill less than two months from the day he died. “That’s the only way I’m going to get peace.”
