April 06, 2011 : Joseph Goldberg Obtains Defense Verdict in Excessive Force Case
On April 5, 2011, a federal jury decided that police officers who shot a Warminster man in March 2006 did not use excessive force.
Twenty-one year old Sean Sullivan was shot and killed in his back yard when trying to flee police who were serving his mother with a warrant for providing false information to the police. Three Warminster Township officers and a Warrington Township officer were accused of denying Sullivan his civil rights by shooting him as he ran from his home. Over 44 bullets were fired and 5 struck Sullivan, two in the back. The police believed at the time of the shooting that Sullivan possessed a loaded hand gun. After he was shot, the police discovered that Sullivan had brandished an unloaded pellet gun. The suit, filed by Sullivan's parents, sought $3,000,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Sullivan's mother, who claimed that she witnessed the shooting, alleged intentional inflection of emotional distress.
Joseph Goldberg represented Officer John Blanchard of the Warrington Township Police Department and was assisted in the case by Wendi D. Barish and Syreeta Peake.