Peter Ticktin, left, senior partner, and Jamie Alan Sasson, managing partner, of The Ticktin Law Group. Courtesy photos

 

Peter Ticktin and Jamie A. Sasson of the Ticktin Law Group's Deerfield Beach office are preparing for trial against Arkansas-based Walmart Stores Inc., the city of Hallandale Beach, Broward County and the Broward County Sheriff's Office, accused of the wrongful death of a shoplifter.

The pair represent Christina Sam Niego, the ex-wife of 32-year-old Eduardo Prieto Jr., who stole children's DVDs from a Walmart store in Hallandale Beach and was subsequently shot 26 times by police. According to the plaintiff, Walmart staff exaggerated reports of aggressive behavior and a “weapon.”

Niego had divorced Prieto before his death, but she filed the 2014 suit on behalf of him and their two children. A trial is set for April 2019.

According to the complaint, Prieto “was given the death penalty by Walmart and the Broward Sheriff for shoplifting,” despite having “voluntarily” returned the merchandise to the staff.

But Walmart saw it differently, and claimed Prieto's death was a result of his own actions, as well as the negligence of the other defendants.

Walmart

Click here to read the amended complaint

Prieto was caught swiping DVDs on Sept. 6, 2012, and was promptly detained in the store's asset protection office, where security guards allegedly refused to let him leave.

“He had tried twice to leave peacefully,” said Sasson, who plans to back up this claim with video footage at trial.

With guards blocking the door, Prieto then brandished a pocket knife in an attempt to get out of the room.

It worked. Walmart employees moved aside, then followed Prieto out of the store and called 911.

According to Ticktin, Walmart employees “lied” to a 911 dispatcher and “hyped up the police,” so that they would treat the incident more seriously than they would “a simple shoplifting matter.”

According to the complaint, employees mentioned a “weapon,” but didn't immediately specify that it was a pocket knife.

“The threat was over, yet they gave this heightened response to the dispatcher,” Sasson said.

Somehow, a gun entered the equation.

“We can't really figure out how that came about,” Sasson said. “When we took the deposition of the 911 operator, she didn't remember why she said it or where that came from. But on the voice recording, you hear the 911 operator saying, 'Update: We've been advised he has a gun.' ”

A car chase ensued, and ended when officers cornered Prieto in a parking lot and ordered him to put his hands up.

Plaintiff counsel said Prieto had previously been attacked in a robbery, which had caused paralysis in his left leg.

“ The next thing they said was, 'Get out of the car,' so [Prieto] reached down to pick up his leg to be able to move the leg out of the doorway, and 26 bullets went through his head. They thought he was reaching for his gun,” Ticktin said.

No gun was found on Prieto's body.

But the two 911 calls made by Walmart staff “put [police officers] in a position where they had to believe that any movement that looked like he was going for a gun was a movement where he was going for a gun,” according to Ticktin.

Counsel to Walmart, David Tarlow of Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer in Fort Lauderdale, did not respond to requests for comment before deadline. Connecticut attorney Andre Dorva, who represents Hallandale Beach, and Assistant County Attorney Anthony C. Halmon, who represents Broward County, were also unresponsive.

The defense of the Broward County Sheriff's Office rests on case law, which states that, as its 911 dispatch is a uniquely governmental function, it retains sovereign immunity and cannot be sued the same way a person or company can.

Counsel to the Broward County Sheriff's Office, Mike Ross Piper of Fort Lauderdale's Johnson, Anselmo, Murdoch & Burke, chose not to comment on pending litigation.

Though Ticktin said the police were negligent to an extent, he admitted that “we almost feel sorry for what the police had to go through.”

“I don't see the police as being evil,” Ticktin said. ”I don't see them as being the ones that put this whole thing into action. There was some negligence on their part, but there was some intentional wrongdoing here that caused this all to happen in the first place, and that was the way the management at Walmart decided to escalate this thing into another realm.”