The Virginian-Pilot
©
PORTSMOUTH
A jury should decide whether a police officer who fatally shot an unarmed immigrant in Olde Towne committed excessive force, a judge has determined.
U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith issued an opinion Thursday saying lawyers for the estate of Kirill Denyakin provided evidence in a $22 million civil lawsuit against Officer Stephen D. Rankin that dispute his version of the shooting.
"The case at hand turns on which of two conflicting stories rings true to the jury. A trial must be had," she wrote in the ruling.
Rankin shot Denyakin on April 23 outside the building at 454 Green St., where Denyakin was living with friends. He was a native of Kazakhstan and working as a cook at the Renaissance Portsmouth Hotel and Waterfront Conference Center.
Rankin has said that Denyakin ignored his commands and charged him with his right hand deep in his pants, prompting Rankin to fear for his life and open fire. Denyakin was hit 11 times, according to an autopsy report.
Attorneys for Denyakin's estate argue that Denyakin, who had a blood alcohol content of 0.28, was either standing still or stumbling, possibly with his hands up, when he was shot. He was shot on the inside of his right wrist, something the attorneys argue couldn't be possible if his hand were in his pants because there was no hole in his jeans.
"The plaintiff points to specific forensic and testimonial evidentiary support in the record, creating a genuine, material factual dispute as to, most importantly, whether Mr. Denyakin charged Officer Rankin and whether Mr. Denyankin's hand was in his pants or otherwise concealed from view," the judge wrote.
The trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 28.
The civil case proceeded at the same time a criminal investigation was under way.
Last week, Portsmouth Commonwealth's Attorney Earle C. Mobley asked a grand jury to consider whether Rankin should be indicted on a charge of voluntary manslaughter. The grand jury did not return an indictment.
Patrick Wilson, (757) 222-3893, patrick.wilson@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
Estate??
Attorneys for his estate? What estate? He worked as a cook and lived with his friends where is the money to hire these lawyers coming from? Oh wait I fogot that these bottomfeeding lawyers can drum up a lawsuit with no evidence and a huge payout (22 million is about 8 times what the man would probably have earned in his LIFETIME if he worked until he was 80) then settle for a huge amount paid for by us taxpayers. How would they possibly expect the officer to come up with 22 Million dollars if they won the case? I hate bloodsucking attorneys.
Kirill's estate is his family - his mother, father, brother
he worked so hard to send money home to them to help them out
and for his brother to attend school.
Why are you blaming the family or the attorneys for the litigation?
If, God forbid someone murdered one of your children in cold blood would you not want justice to seen to be done?
And just what value do you place on their lives? Every life is
priceless - don't you think his mother and father would give everything
they own just to have Kirill back?
ESTATE??
Everyone has an estate when they die. Whether it's one dollar or a million dollars. Furthermore, as the Judge ruled, his relatives, as benficiaries of the Estate, are entitled to sue the Officer, the Police Dept. as well as the City, since the alleged crime was conducted while the Police Officer was on duty. As for the evidence, the Judge in this case ruled correctly that the lawyers representing the Estate did present ample evidence that if presented to a jury could deem the Police Officer's statement as being not entirely true.
Next time the there is a situation such as this where a city employee harms or kills in the line of duty, the City should hire an independant Councilor to present the City's case to the Grand Jury. Obviously the City's Attorney did a poor job by not presenting all the facts to the Grand Jury and could not get an simple indictment. There was definitely a conflict of interest between the Police Dept and the City Attorney's Office. Maybe next time the City will hire the same Lawyers as the victim's relatives did.
Officer Shooting Portsmouth
Ever had an experience with a violent drunk? Being drunk should not be a defense for this fellow no more than it should be a condemnation of the officer. It would be interesting to see if the Pilot looks into the background of this fellow to see if he was in fact a threat to others.
Officer Shooting Portsmouth
How convenient it was for the Police Officer to forget to sync his microphone to the cruiser's onboard recording device. It's almost like he had an inclination that a shooting was going to take place and he didn't want any evidence.
As yourself, why eleven rounds?
Kirill was not a violent drunk - he was attempting
to get into the house he had been living in, he was
unarmed, and he offered no resistance. He was a threat
to no one.
There is nothing incriminating to find looking into
his background - however I don't see how that relates
to the situation - the officer would not be knowledgeable
about his background during the shooting.
Judgment
Exactly, the officer was responding to a BURGLARY and arrived to find a man violently pounding on the door. Within seconds the man has turned on him and at least one hand has moved to his waist area. It is dark and in a split second the officer has to determine if this man is a threat to him or not. The man is ignoring all verbal direction and refusing to cooperate. If I were the officer I may very well have shot the man also. Maybe not 11 times but enough to put him on the ground and end the possibility of me dying or being seriously injured. A taser would have been perfect for this encounter but I don't know if the officer had one available.
How many burglars do you know that pound on the door
before they break in? - common sense would tell anyone over the age of
a child on arrival to quickly discern it was not a burglary.
It has already been proven by the forensic evidence that Kirill not only
had his hands outside - not inside his pants - as his hands were shot and
there was no corresponding hole in his pants.
He was shot through his palms which indicate he had his hands up and raised on one of the many gunshots he endured before his death.
Judgement
Ask yourself, why eleven rounds?