Jury Finds Radar Gun Firm Not Responsible for Officer’s Cancer

A federal jury on Wednesday cleared a radar gun manufacturer of responsibility for a policeman’s terminal cancer.

The U.S. District Court jury voted 7 to 1 to deny a $12.5-million damage claim against Kustom Signals Inc., maker of the HR-8 radar gun.

The lawsuit was filed by Eric Bendure, 34, who alleged he got non-Hodgkins lymphoma from the radar gun while working on the police forces in San Anselmo and Petaluma, north of San Francisco. Bendure is expected to die within six months of the disease, which was first diagnosed in 1989.

Bendure’s lawyers said the gun, which the officer used for more than three years, emitted microwaves even when it wasn’t being used to track cars, exposing Bendure to radiation when he rested it in his lap.

Bendure’s lawyer said Kustom negligently designed the hand-held device, which tracks speeding motorists.

But a lawyer for the firm told the jury that scientific studies had failed to find a link between microwaves and non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He also said the radar gun exceeded industry standards when it was introduced about 12 years ago.