Includes video report
SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — The Seminole County Sheriff's Office will pay a $3.2 million settlement to a Florida Lottery winner who was shot in his own back yard.
Deputies said they thought Robert Swofford Jr. was a burglar when they opened fire on him in April 2006.
Swofford, who won $60 million in the Florida Lotto, was shot four times.
He filed a lawsuit in 2007, claiming the sheriff's office failed to properly train its deputies.
Lawyers decided to settle the lawsuit last week.
Wow! Ok here are my thoughts.
1. The Lottery Curse Strikes again
2. Why in the world does Florida Lotto INSIST in making winners public???
3. Recently in "The Lottery Changed My Life" a Florida doctor who won 56 million had someone tamper with her brakes and she had to relocate to a new safer neighborhood
4. Let's not forget that poor Abraham Shakespeare who won 30 million was hounded by deadbeats who eventually killed him
Folks, we all play Lotto in hopes of living our dreams, but winning the lotto is a CURSE. Why???? Because people are EVIL.
Change the law NOW!!!!!! A N O N Y M I T Y for all who win Lotto.
I think the police simply made a mistake here, if this guy had not won lotto, no one would be interested in burglarizing his home.
FLORIDA LOTTO: CHANGE YOUR POLICY!!!! ANONYMITY FOR YOUR WINNERS PLEASE!!!!! HOW MANY PEOPLE MUST DIE?????
OMG! You are absolutely correct.
The police told him to drop his weapon, Did he know they were police? Did he call them ? Were the police supposed to assume he was the homeowner?
If your a cop and you tell a suspect to drop their weapon and they don't, I say blast away, Sounds like it was bad decision making on both sides.
If there is someone in my yard, I am not going to confront them, if you break into my house, your going to be full of buck shot.
I hear ya Sully, BUT had this guy not won Lotto, no one would be interested in burglarizing his property. Why can't people win and be happy????
I agree, they should let winners remain anonymous, To many people scream "cheater cheater" if they don't know who won, Wth his money he could have a state of the art security system, going out to confront someone in the middle of the night is plain stupid.
IMO, Mr. Swofford deserves every penny of that settlement. He was shot seven times while defending his property. The two police officers were not able to prove their case and, in fact, were sanctioned by the court for destroying evidence. Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/0124/Supreme-Court-declines-appeal-in-lottery-winner-s-excessive-force-suit
I agree that everone should be able to remain anonymous!
Too many Greed of Envy poeple around ............. they have the right to everything!
A former co-worker of mine told me he "has the right" to come to my house and take what he wants, if he is "down and out" !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I told him that is why I have a gun loaded with hollow points !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On another note ........... I have won $3 on two consecutive Powerball Drawings ................. can the big win be next ?!
Love your comments they on point when I win I will have a Judge friend of mine help me collect anonymous and if anybody finds out it's me I will just tell them a friend I know won and just gave me a little money to buy me a new home ect. or just move away where nobody knows me. Good luck on hitting it big
the police were probably trying to seize the property by killing him and planting drugs. this way they would get everything and be able to live on the take style
i hope they can read.
It should be a felony for police to destroy evidence - these cops should go to jail for a very long time.
Why is that they can shoot people, destroy the evidence and not get in trouble for it, just lose their case. That's ridiculous, I think police who are caught destroying evidence should be JAILED for YEARS.
In addition to all the reasons given so far, those deputies should be personally sued for being such awful shots!
They are too dangerous to be allowed to have guns if they can't hit the target! In a more public shootout, innocent civilians would be killed by them, instead of a criminal.
If this guy called the cops about a burglar in his yard and then was stupid enough to be standing in the yard with a gun in his hand when the cops arrived...
And then wouldn't drop the gun when instructed to...
Well, I gotta wonder how he got a settlement on this case. Sounds like the County was just scared of public opinion ruling in court.
And maybe it is time for the government to put people's safety before their advertising campaigns.
Maybe I missed something major, but it sounds to me like he didn't call them, the police witnessed the robber flee through his backyard and pursued without any warning to the owner of the home. There was a recording on one of the police officers radios, which was still on. In it, they found no evidence that they called out the fact that they were officers until after shooting.
But I could have missed something.... If I did he probably got the settlement on the grounds that the officers were caught destroying evidence, so they didn't want it put into court.