Gossip Extra – by Jose Lambiet
WEST PALM BEACH — In the end, the shooting of a Down Syndrome sufferer by a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputy during a slow-speed car chase in Royal Palm Beach in 2010 will end up costing taxpayers close to $1 million.
Gossip Extra has learned exclusively that PBSO and the family of Jeremy Hutton, the victim, settled a two-year federal civil rights lawsuit during a secret mediation session yesterday.
The terms of the settlement are supposed to be sealed, but a source close to the case told Gossip Extra that Hutton’s family is set to receive a check for “a hair over $500,000.”
The amount is particularly high in a state where, if such cases go to trial, awards are capped at $200,000.
Hutton was unarmed and at the wheel of his mother’s SUV when PBSO Deputy Jason Franqui opened fired on the boy, who was then 17. He was struck in the head, hand and shoulder but survived.
— It’s yet another Gossip Extra scoop obtained while West Palm Beach’s out-of-town corporate media kowtow to public officials. Get the news you care about: Click here to subscribe to our daily news alerts
While PBSO’s Internal Affairs investigation cleared the deputy of any wrongdoing, the deputy’s dashboard video (see below) that the agency was forced to produce after claiming it didn’t exist, clearly showed Franqui appeared to be in no danger when he shot at least six times into Hutton’s car after it stopped at an intersection.
“Add about $300,000 in legal bills for PBSO’s outside counsel,” the source said, “and the tab forced by SheriffRic Bradshaw‘s agency onto the public is going to be enormous.”
Had it festered, the case threatened to become another embarrassing one for Bradshaw in an election year.
It was settled just two days after Gossip Extra revealed in exclusively obtained court documents how Bradshaw appeared to have lied in sworn statement!
We exclusively told you that the testimony of Internal Affairs Major Robert Van Reeth debunked Bradshaw’s claims he knew absolutely nothing of the questionable shooting and was never briefed about it.
Hutton led deputies on a low-speed chase through the Acreage after his mother called 911 to report that her disabled teen swiped the keys of the family’s SUV and took off.
Hutton’s family filed the lawsuit in August 2012 and named Franqui, two other deputies, PBSO and Bradshaw as defendants. The family claimed, among other things, that deputies are not properly trained to handle such situations.
For months, Hutton lawyer Stuart Kaplan tried to depose Bradshaw.
But the sheriff refused, just as he has refused to testify in nearly all other brutality and excessive force cases against PBSO.
Check out the video of the incident:
*** While PBSO’s Internal Affairs investigation cleared the deputy of any wrongdoing… ***
Of course they did. Pigs can do no wrong, can they?
If any citizen, even one with a CCW permit, had shot someone *just in case* that person was a threat — which is clearly what happened here, since that guy with Down Syndrome obviously was not a threat — the shooter would be put in prison for a long time.
So, once again, we see the taxpayers being punished for the criminality of the police.
“But the sheriff refused, just as he has refused to testify in nearly all other brutality and excessive force cases against PBSO.”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t covering up evidence of a crime ALSO a crime?
Somebody PLEASE double-tap this scumbag puke soon.