Security company sued after man is shot www.privateofficer.com

Security company sued after man is shot http://www.privateofficer.com

from the Tribune Chronicle
WARREN OH. April 25 2008 — Along with the scar on the right side of his head from a bullet that grazed him, Eddie Robertson Jr. told a jury Wednesday that he remains scarred for life from the trauma he suffered outside a grocery store on Labor Day 2004.

Robertson, then 17, said he was buying picnic supplies at the Sparkle Market in Austin Village Plaza when a security guard ordered him out of the store.

The guard, Michael Harris, followed Robertson outside and then ordered him to get out of his car in the parking lot.That’s when two shots were fired at him, including the bullet from Harris’ .38 caliber Taurus revolver that grazed him.

A jury of seven women and one man is hearing the civil case against REMCO Security which supplied guards for the market and the company that hired Harris despite his felony conviction in New Jersey 18 years earlier.Robertson originally sued Sparkle and Harris’ estate since Harris died of natural causes in 2005.

All defendants except REMCO had their cases dismissed or settled before the trial in the courtroom of Common Pleas Judge John M. Stuard.Harris had claimed self defense to the charge of felonious assault. He said he thought Robertson had a 4-inch knife.Sgt. Jeff Cole, a Warren police detective, said a knife never was found. But a ‘‘brass knuckle’’ blade was found on Harris, as well as the gun and two spent cartridges.Cole told the jury that Harris even re-loaded after shooting twice at the teen.

The detective also testified that Harris’ self-defense claim never held up, leading to his indictment. He said Harris never gave any verbal commands in the parking lot.A REMCO spokesman testified that the blame rests with the state of Ohio since Harris never should have been issued a certificate to bear firearms.

But he had one when he was hired and when he worked for other security companies.Robertson and his attorney, Rhonda Baker Debevec, claim REMCO still failed to perform an adequate background check before hiring Harris, who was of the belief that Robertson had been banned from the store for stealing wine.

Robertson claimed he wasn’t banned from the store and never really took any products outside the business. He was unclear in his testimony whether he was allowed inside that day.

The plaintiff told jurors that the emotional distress has caused him to drink heavily and that he never finished high school.

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