Family Awarded $3 Million in Damages in Excessive Force Suit
Nearly two and a half years after police shot and killed a man during a drug bust in south Memphis, a federal jury awarded his family nearly three million dollars. Vice Narcotics Officers stormed the house on 1523 Rozelle Street in South Memphis during a drug bust in July of 2002. Officers were looking for two drug dealers in the house when they came across Jeffrey Robinson. Officers shot him in the jaw saying he was going for a weapon. But late Friday afternoon the jury ruled for Robinson's family saying the officers used excessive force. The family got nearly three million dollars in the ruling including the largest punitive pay out in an excessive force case in some time. Attorney's prosecuting this case say they will continue to look into the police department's liability in all of this including whether or not the city of Memphis is responsible for the officers' conduct. If proven, this case could serve as an important precedent for at least three other excessive force cases pending in Memphis.
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