32° CLEAR, Peyton Strickland's family suing UNCW
Last Modified: Friday, October 31, 2008 at 9:29 p.m.
RALEIGH | The family of an unarmed teenager fatally shot by a sheriff’s deputy contend in a lawsuit the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and its police department are responsible for feeding deputies bad information.
- Sheriff modifies procedures for emergency response team
- Stricklands to sue UNCW police
- Strickland family intends to pursue wrongful death claim against UNCW, court document says
- Deputy free of liability in case
- Strickland shooting settled in deal's 3 points
- County releases Strickland settlement agreement documents
- Sheriff apologizes to Strickland family; county to pay $2.45 million
- Road to Strickland shooting began with robbery
- New Hanover County settles with Strickland family
- 1 year later, pain unrelieved
- Statement from the Strickland family
- Peyton Strickland Shooting Timeline | Multimedia
The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Friday that the lawsuit, filed with the state Industrial Commission, blames the university and its police department for a “sloppy, hasty and overzealous” investigation.
Eighteen-year-old Peyton Strickland of Durham was fatally shot through the door of his Wilmington rental home Dec. 1, 2006. A deputy said he mistook the sound of a battering ram for gunshots fired from inside the home.
Strickland and two friends were suspected of beating a UNC-W student and robbing him of two PlayStation 3s. Campus police asked the sheriff’s department after seeing Internet photos of some of Strickland’s friends posing with guns.
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Information from: The News & Observer, http://www.newsobserver.com
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Comments
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November 1, 2008 7:07:11 pm
RE: Link
November 1, 2008 7:21:54 pm
Two current and active threads on here about this. Let's not make a third.
Sore subject here in the WSN forum.
Tread lightly. And go to the other two threads for this subject. Thank you in advance.
November 2, 2008 3:33:37 am
Aren't the parents lawyers?
November 2, 2008 3:35:40 am
You need to get your facts straight. first off Justin was not beaten. there is a lot you do not know. these are good people who are not keeping a dime. the money goes into a scholarship program to help other young men and women go to college. the uncw police made a mistake and inflated the seriousness of the situation. they should have gone to the other boys house if they were scared because peyton was not even in the pictures. they created fear which was not warranted. they were gung ho and didnt check the facts out. there is alot of corruption in that department and it needs to be stopped before another innocent victim dies because the facts were not checked out. do the research or shut up. we are behind the stricklands 1000% percent for doing the right thing instead of just keeping quiet. god bless them.
November 2, 2008 3:52:26 am
smokenmad.........are you a college student or recent grad from college?
November 2, 2008 6:38:45 am
I think smokenmad is right on target. This is about ensuring the safety of the kids at UNCW and the rest of that community and that unbiased justice is carried out properly and professionally. Anyone that thinks these two objectives are not mutually inclusive should be drummed out of law enforcement instantly. Once again, people are getting confused between the crime that took place and the series of subsequent law enforcement actions that resulted in an unfortunate, unexpected and improper outcome of the investigation. This isn't a case about the robbery. This is a case about assuring for the protection of the UNCW community the proper performance of unbiased investigative professionalism by the law enforcement entities involved in the Strickland investigation. We now know the city police deparment failed in doing a proper job. Now it is the turn of the preceding investigative agency that provided intelligence that allegedly was inflammatory and biased, the UNCW PD, to be judged under NC civil law for financial penalties, administrative sanctions and possible auditable placement on the path of professional improvement.
The police did their jobs. The problem is that they did it improperly and unprofessionally, especially for a jurisdiction the size of Wilmington and a university like UNCW.It is disingenuous, morally corrupt and self-serving to defend the improper investigative methods of the law enforcement agencies by implying the Stricklands thought their son was perfect. I'm sure they knew their son wasn't a saint. But they also knew their son was not by any means the bloodthirsty armed to the teeth killer allegedly portrayed by UNCW police. Even the resulting data on the internet showed no evidence of assault rifles and heavy weaponry in the boy's hands and at the boy's apartment.
The Stricklands are allegedly fixing this for the people of Wilmington and UNCW gratis in honor of their child. To my knowledge, they won't get a dime for this and based on past actions they'll just turn around and give all the money back to CFCC and UNCW.
The good news, if any, was that only one student was killed/murdered accidentally. The count of unarmed innocent dead and wounded could have been much higher, which might have included girls, boys and adults that were not even remotely associated or even aware of the prior events that led the police
November 2, 2008 9:14:49 am
Ring a bell dressed in red and folks think you represent the salvation army and give you some change maybe. Take your pic dressed in a camo uniform with an American flag behind you folks think you are a soldier and give you some respect maybe. Take a pic dressed like a gangster with a firearm in your hand people treat you like a gangster maybe.It was a horrible accident that happened to a young man because of his ill will and bully behavior. He may not of deserved what he got but bad will will follow bad
November 2, 2008 1:13:28 pm
thank you rhl. I wish I had the gift of words as you do. My family has waited along time for the uncw police department to be held accountable for their actions which led to Peyton's death. This is very hard for the family. They could just walk away and hope that someone else doesnt lose their life as Peyton did. BUT the stricklands have always cared about others before themselves.They are the most generous family I have ever known or will ever know in my lifetime. This is very painful for them, but if this saves another life they are willing to go through this nightmare once again. They are not out for personnal gain as most people who sue are. Every dime goes into scholarships so college students have the chance to make their dreams come true. Peyton never had the chance to make his dream of being a master welder come true. UNCW police and New hanover police made sure of that. Lets remember also that Peyton was not the only victim of this nightmare. His roommate is still battling the nightmares of seeing his best friend murdered right in front of him. All involved need to be held accountable. God bless the Stricklands and give them strength.
November 3, 2008 3:43:43 am
The real shame of the incident rests with Roy Cooper, Attorney General of NC, for sending his Senior-Assistant Attorney General Patrick Murphy to "oversee" the second grand-juries investigation of Deputy Christopher Long. The second grand jury was influenced by Assist. AG Patrick Murphy and Agents of the State Bureau of Investigation and FBI to NOT INDICT Deputy Long for second-degree murder or even manslaughter in the shooting death of Peyton. This is how law enforcement agencies stick together to protect one of their own, even when that officer is in the wrong.So blame the Attorney General Roy Cooper for the "botched" grand jury investigation - "Coop" is one of the untouchables in law enforcement and wishes to be re-elected for a third term as Attorney General; from his "bio" on the web site roycooper.com "Coop" claims to be a Christian, church deacon and sunday school teacher, but apparently anything goes when protecting a fellow law enforcement officer who knows that other officers on the SWAT team are going to break-down the door with a battering-ram and claims the sound of the battering-ram hitting the door right beside him sounded like "gun-fire" from within the apartment, giving Deputy Long the excuse he needed to open fire on Peyton before he had time to open the door and be "served".
Department of Justice, AG Roy Cooper hired SBI Director Robin Pendergraft, and the SBI, who investigates all officer shooting incidents, is directly under Pendergraft and Cooper's authority - Deputy Long should be in prison for manslaughter, at the very least, and would be in prison if not for "Coop's" influence with the second grand jury investigation of Deputy Long.
November 3, 2008 5:42:10 am
A grand jury has the facts presented to them of a case, and deceides if there was a crime commited or not. If so, then it is sent on to the DA to prosecute, and a jury of their piers to judge. Before you KEEP BLAMING the system and Roy Cooper for an injustice, you need to understand how these things work. If there was no crime commited, then why try to prosecute any part of the law enforcement? If law enforcement was thretened by criminals families every time they defend the public, the criminals would rule the world!!!
So get off your high horse, and stop defending criminals, and let law enforcement do their jobs. I am glad they took a dangerous criminal like Peyton off the street. Now I won't have to worry about getting robbed when I am coming out of Best Buy this year.
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