Excessive force lawsuit against North Carolina sheriff’s office settled for $6 million
The Harnett County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina has agreed to a $6 million settlement for a lawsuit filed by six families over a pattern of excessive force exhibited by deputies who allegedly referred to themselves as the “KKK.”
Raleigh-based attorney Robert Zaytoun announced the settlement on Thursday on behalf of the plaintiffs, WRAL reported.
“This went all the way up to the top. It was condoned, it was enabled, at the highest reaches of the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office,” Zaytoun said, describing it as “an anti-rogue law enforcement case.”
The lawsuit specifically took aim at Sheriff Wayne Coats, former Sheriff Larry Rollins and another four deputies. It was filed in 2016 by the family of John Livingston, who was shot and killed by a Harnett County deputy after he refused a warrantless search of his home the year prior.
Former deputy Nicholas Kehagias fatally shot 33-year-old Livingston during a confrontation on his front porch the night of Nov. 15, 2015. Witnesses said he attempted to barge into the home after Livingston told him that the person authorities were looking for didn’t live there.
The ex-officer then allegedly pulled him out of a chair, threw him to the ground and repeatedly used his stun gun and pepper spray.
Kehagias, who resigned from the force seven months later, said he was then forced to shoot Livingston when Livingston grabbed his stun gun and tried to use it against him. Witnesses never confirmed his version of events, but a grand jury declined to indict Kehagias on criminal charges.
The lawsuit — which outlines 43 causes of action against the defendants — also accused Kehagias and two other deputies whose surnames begin with the letter K of calling themselves the “KKK” and training together in a type of “fight club.”
“This settlement is not in any way an admission of guilt to any actions of the deputies,” Coats said in a statement. “Although I was not the sheriff at the time of the incidents, I still support the men that were involved and I believe they acted appropriately.”
With News Wire Services
