Lawyer: Cop killed 'innocent man ... take responsibility for it'

Daniel Tepfer
Connecticut Post
Sep. 27, 2012

BRIDGEPORT -- The lawyer for the family of a South Carolina man fatally shot in the back by a city police officer following a chase four years ago urged a Superior Court jury Tuesday to find the city responsible for the police officer's actions.

"If a police officer shoots an unarmed, misidentified man in the back, they must tell the truth and take responsibility for the death they caused," Antonio Ponvert III told the jury of three men and three women as he began his case in the civil trial. "We trust our police to serve and protect us, but here, they killed an innocent man, and now they are trying to avoid taking responsibility for what they did."

Family of the dead man, Frederick McAllister, sobbed in the back of the crowded courtroom as Ponvert spoke on their behalf.

But Associate City Attorney Betsy Edwards countered that under state law, Lt. Brian Fitzgerald, who sat by her side at the defense table, did nothing wrong.

"Police officers are not required to gamble with their lives; we don't expect them to go into dangerous situations and determine if someone is armed by taking a bullet," she told the jury. "A police officer is allowed to shoot a suspect before the suspect shoots them. If they wait to see a gun, they have already been shot."

Then-State's Attorney Jonathan Benedict later cleared Fitzgerald of any criminal wrongdoing in the incident. He is scheduled to testify during this trial.

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