Woman who lost her left eye in 'unjustified' police shooting after drunken 40-mile car chase sues

[damnedifIknow]

A woman who lost her left eye two years ago when a police officer fired a single shot at her following a drunken 40-mile car chase is suing the cop and police force involved.

Kristine Biggs Johnson was driving drunk through Morgan County, Utah, on November 24, 2012 when the shooting occurred.

At a press conference on Thursday to announced her legal action, Johnson said she couldn’t recall much from the evening in question - which doctors have put down to either head trauma or excessive alcohol intake.

In her lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Johnson’s lawyer argues that Sergeant Daniel Peay ‘utilized unreasonable, improper, unnecessary and excessive deadly force’."

On the night of the shooting, Johnson was traveling from Evanston, Wyoming, to California with her dog and all her possessions – including a bottle of vodka.

‘I hadn’t opened it and I had no plans to,’ she told The Salt Lake Tribune on Thursday, but toxicology tests have since proved that Johnson was legally drunk that night.

When Morgan County sheriffs encountered Johnson she refused to pull over after a deputy tried to stop her for having a broken headlight.

A 40-mile chase into Davis County then ensued after Johnson drove off.

The officer called for backup and at some point during the chase, officers placed spike strips on the road, which destroyed three of Johnson’s tires.

The chase eventually ended in a cul-de-sac and dash-cam footage shows Johnson surrounded by three cop cars."

Video at link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2834189/I-m-sorry-actions-night-Woman-lost-left-eye-unjustified-shooting-following-drunken-40-mile-car-chase-sues-police-officer-involved-excessive-force.html

[snooper2]

1. yeah when you keep trying to drive your vehicle into cops after a 40 mile chase

PROBABLY not a good idea-

[damnedifIknow]

3. She was blocked in

and the video shows she stopped before hitting the police car in front of her and that's when she was shot. This woman wasn't going anywhere with three flat tires and a convoy of cops in front of her.

[snooper2]

4. She hit the truck first, backed up, then hit the car to the left of the one with the dash cam

then was shot-

facts matter

[damnedifIknow]

5. Facts do matter

Watch again and see her stop completely before she was shot.

[snooper2]

6. She hits the first cop car at 4 seconds, hits it again at 15 seconds, hits car to right at 28 second

you do see the front of the truck lift slightly up and impact noise at 28 seconds correct?

If she was really "stopping" with any forward momentum you should see the nose of her weapon going down not up. I guess this is why Grand Juries take so long



Facts Matter-

[damnedifIknow]

8. She flat out stopped her "weapon"

Why shoot? DUI's are punishable by death now?

[msanthrope]

9. Poor dog. nt

[Nye Bevan]

2. When I first saw this story I was inclined to take her side,

but reading the details, she still tried to drive away even after they had blown out her tires? Obviously she was still a danger to the cops and to the public. They couldn't get close enough to taze her and had done everything they could to stop her. I think I have to side with the cops on this one.

[NYC_SKP]

10. I don't think she posed significant enough threat to the officers or to the public on three rims...

.
...for them to use deadly force. They had her, she wasn't going anywhere.

So, it looks a lot more like shooting her for noncompliance with police instruction.

That said, she needs to bear most of the blame for her injuries, as she created the entire set of circumstances that led up to her shooting.

I'm torn as to what damages, if any, I would award her.

[yeoman6987]

12. Oh I am sure....NOT!

She endangered many that day. She is lucky she didn't kill anyone.

[NYC_SKP]

13. In that moment she did not pose a deadly threat.

Boxed in by the vehicles, she didn't need to be shot IN THE FUCKING HEAD!

That was excessive.

[yeoman6987]

14. No! Sorry but her decision making was bad that day

And if she hadn't driven 40 miles then maybe I would side with her. For example, if she left the location drunk and simple got in the car and they shot her, I would side with her. But she didn't, she has attempted murder on thousands that day. I would charge her for that if I was the DA.

[Nye Bevan]

18. She still controlled her vehicle which is a deadly weapon.

She had ample opportunity to surrender without being injured. All she had to do was get out of the car with her hands up.

[NYC_SKP]

19. Shot her on the head.

The proper response was to completely box her in with the vehicles that were already on site.

Less lethal than dancing around her vehicle with guns drawn.

[Thinkingabout]

7. I hope she understands the excessive deadly force she was using, perhaps her

Good judgement was too impaired for her to realize she endangered the lives of everyone who was in her path, using her vehicle as the weapon and too impaired to realize her tires was flat. I am sorry for the loss of her eye but this is a good reason not to drive drunk.

[yeoman6987]

11. This case I would love to be on the jury

She would lose. Seriously at which mile did she think she had the right to not stop? At which drink did she feel she was ok to get into a 4 ton weapon? When you first see the police lights, you pull over. Not a difficult decision.

[damnedifIknow]

15. True she used bad judgement

For this she almost gets her head blown off? Obviously she was in a distressed state of mind at the time and needed to be stopped but not in that way in my opinion. There were enough cops there to handle this without resorting to deadly force.

[ProfessorGAC]

16. Hard To Use Her As A Poster Child

She engaged in the use of deadly force too. No, she shouldn't have had her head blown off (which isn't really what occurred), and it's easy to pile on the cops right now, given the horrible behavior we've seen in recent times.

But, this one is a lot harder to hold up as a clear instance of excessive force by police.

Drunk; 40 mile car chase; punctured tires; boxed in; and she's still hitting vehicles trying to get out somehow.

Not a pretty view from either window, here.

[yeoman6987]

17. We will just have to agree to disagree on this one

I will never be on her side for this or condone a thing she has done. I can be sympathetic to a degree but I am not a chump either. Had she stopped when the initial lights came on, she would probably gotten probation, alcohol counseling and license lost for a period of time. She decided she had the right to drive drunk and didn't care about anyone else. Hopefully losing her eye will ensure she never gets into a car again drunk. Some lessons are hard.

[damnedifIknow]

20. I'm not condoning what she did

Nor the way it was handled by the police but did she deserve to be shot in the head over it? No way.