$200,000 Award to Robber Is Reversed
A federal judge overturned a decision to award nearly $200,000 in punitive damages to a man shot in the buttock by Riverside police officers as he fled from the scene of a robbery.
U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins on Wednesday reversed a ruling to force four officers and a former Riverside police chief to pay Brian Forret, who was convicted of the 1990 robbery and later filed a lawsuit from prison.
In April, the officers were each ordered to pay $26,183 after a jury found that they used excessive force while attempting to arrest Forret. Former Police Chief Sonny Richardson was ordered to pay $80,000.
The officers appealed the decision after investigations by the Riverside Police Department and the Riverside district attorney’s office found no wrongdoing.
If the award had been allowed to stand, officers would hesitate to use potentially deadly force to subdue people because of the liability risks, police spokesman Bob Hansen said.
Forret is serving a 32-year prison sentence.
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