- Police Brutality Watch

Answer to civil suit says Walker put himself in situation leading to death
In an answer filed Monday to the U.S. District Court lawsuit filed by the widow of Kenneth Walker, former Muscogee County Deputy Sheriff David Glisson asked for qualified immunity from the civil suit, cited probable cause for the traffic stop of the vehicle in which Walker was riding and declared Walker put himself in the circumstances that led to his death. Glisson's attorney, Richard Hagler, filed the answer to the suit transferred to the federal court in December. In that suit, Cheryl Walker seeks $100 million in damages from Muscogee County, Glisson and Sheriff Ralph Johnson, alleging all are liable for the wrongful death of Kenneth Walker, who was shot to death by Glisson on Dec. 10, 2003. The shooting occurred after a traffic stop on Interstate 185 during a Metro Narcotics Task Force drug investigation. Among the legal defenses raised in Glisson's answer is the theory that Cheryl Walker and her daughter are not entitled to recover damages from Glisson, because he was not the "proximate cause" of Kenneth Walker's death. The answer states Walker "... placed himself in the circumstances whereby his accidental death occurred." There was probable cause to stop the GMC Yukon in which Walker and three other men were riding, based on evidence and an informant's information that the people in that vehicle were engaged in unlawful activity, the answer states. It cites Metro agents' observation that one of the passengers in the Yukon carried a package into an alleged drug dealer's apartment while it was under surveillance, and that all four occupants of the vehicle entered the apartment where a drug deal had been conducted a short time earlier. Glisson and other agents conducted the traffic stop based on that information and a warning that the occupants of the Yukon might be armed and dangerous, but with no information as to the race of the four men, according to the answer. [more]