Estate of man killed by police loses wrongful death lawsuit

Jordan, 22, was shot May 15, 2008 in a “buy-bust” drug operation that did not go as planned. Police were to have a confidential informant buy an ounce of crack cocaine from a suspect at the Dayton EconoLodge on Edwin C. Moses Boulevard.

Circuit Judge Julia Smith Gibbon’s opinion stated that “the plan went awry” and a vehicle with people police thought would wait for the informant began driving at a normal speed towards McDonald’s and House. The detective partially blocked the exit with his vehicle and walked toward the suspect vehicle with his gun drawn, yelling, “Dayton police. Stop the car.”

When the driver of the suspect car accelerated, House jumped to ensure he would not be struck, but the vehicle hit his right leg. The car also hit the right hand of Det. Raymond St. Clair, causing St. Clair’s weapon to discharge.

Positioned near the passenger-side front window, House fired a shot into the car at the driver and testified that he did not see Jordan sitting in the passenger seat. Jordan was hit in the head and died two weeks later.

“It’s unfortunate anytime that an officer has to use his weapon in self-defense and that includes this case,” said attorney Neil Freund. “But the court properly found that this officer fired his weapon in self-defense.”

Dayton police charged House and St. Clair with two violations of the city’s firearms policy. The officers were found not guilty of one subsection, but found guilty of another, which states “Officers must not deliberately place themselves in the path of a moving vehicle, and officers will attempt to move from the path of the motor vehicle and/or seek cover when possible.”

The appellate court upheld the district court’s ruling that “House’s use of force was not objectively unreasonable under the circumstances.”

Attorneys Matthew Schultz and Dwight Brannon of Brannon & Associates, who argued the case in the federal appellate court, declined to comment about the incident that included officers found guilty of not following policy.

“Under the United States Constitution as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court, an officer can act justifiably even though an administrative policy isn’t technically followed,” Freund said. “(They) found that the unfortunate shooting was justifiable.”