A jury in the State of Maryland has awarded $37 million to Korryn Gaines' family. She was fatally shot by police in 2016 after a lengthy 6-hour standoff, even as officer, Cpl. Royce Ruby attempted to get Gaines to cooperate, the DailyMail.UK reported.
Gaines, who had her 5-year old son next to her, was shot by Ruby after she threatened to kill the police officers and live streamed the confrontation on Instagram and Facebook. Police investigators said that Gaines, while holding a shotgun, told the officers, “If you don't leave, I'm going to kill you.”
Gaines filmed herself being pulled over
In March 2016, Gaines was pulled over by a police officer for not having a license tag on her vehicle which a citizen is required to have when operating any motor vehicle in the State of Maryland and all other states in the United States.
During the video, Gaines was verbally combative with the officer and kept asking the officer who he was and kept saying, “What is your delegation of authority?” The officer wrote her a citation and Gaines continued to be verbally combative and since her car had no license tag, he informed her that a tow-truck was on its way. When the police officer asked her to get out of the car with the child, she refused and had to be physically removed and was given additional charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Gaines live-streams portions of the 6-hour standoff on Instagram
On August 1, 2016, the police showed up at her apartment with an arrest warrant for failing to show up on her court date and her fiancé also had an arrest warrant for assault.
Officer Ruby attempted to negotiate with her to peacefully to end the several hours' long standoff but Gaines refused to cooperate and she also called 911 for help.
During the initial part of the standoff, Officer Ruby saw Gaines sitting on the floor with a rifle pointed at the officer, which can be seen in the video. The police officer spoke with Gaines and several times informed her to come out and speak with him.
He told her that she had a great future ahead and to come and sit down with him and talk and that nobody will get hurt. All the while she kept pointing the gun at the officers. During the negotiations, her fiancé was able to escape from the apartment with a year old child. The video ends before she was shot when she was able to return two shots and was declared dead at the scene.
Jury verdict details
Following the verdict announcement, Gaines’s family's lawyer was outside the Maryland courtroom and was speaking to news reporters while wearing the controversial NFL player, Colin Kaepernick jersey. He told reporters that she didn’t deserve to be shot and her son had watched her die.
All six of the female jury had found that the initial gunshot by Ruby that ended Gaines’ life and injured her five-year-old son, was not rational and that he had infringed upon their civil rights under both federal and state statutes. Her young son was granted more than $32,000,000 in civil damages and the remaining $4.5 million was granted to his sister and about $300K was granted apiece to her father, her mother, as well as to her estate.
The Baltimore County lawyer, Mike Field stated that the county was disheartened with the jury’s Korryn Gaines decision and that they were assessing all legal options with the possibility of the county appealing the decision. Cpl. Ruby had been exonerated of any criminal offense by the Maryland State's Attorney office and later on was promoted.
