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Green v. Ingram3/3/2005
Christie D. Green ("Green") was shot and killed by fragments from a frangible round shot at and through a door when police officers sought to gain entrance to a home to execute a search warrant. Katina Green, the administrator of the estate ("administrator" or "plaintiff"), sued various defendants in a wrongful death action. In this appeal, we consider whether the trial court erred in granting a motion to strike the administrator's evidence and dismissing her motion for judgment.
I. Facts and Proceedings Below
A. Background
According to well-settled principles of appellate review, when the trial court grants a motion to strike the plaintiff's evidence, we review the evidence on appeal in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Perdieu v. Blackstone Family Practice Ctr., Inc., 264 Va. 408, 411, 568 S.E.2d 703, 704 (2002); Bryan v. Burt, 254 Va. 28, 30-31, 486 S.E.2d 536, 537 (1997).
On December 29, 1998, Captain John B. Buckovich ("Buckovich") led the Richmond Special Weapons and Tactics ("SWAT") team on a mission at 1112-C Dove Street in the City of Richmond. The purpose of this mission was to serve a search warrant at a home where illegal drugs and firearms were located. Sergeant George J. Ingram ("Ingram"), a member of the SWAT team, was assigned the task of breaching the kitchen door using frangible breaching rounds.
As part of initiating the entry, police employed a technique known as "rake and break." The technique involves the breaking of a front window and announcing, "Richmond Police, search warrant," while entry through a door at a different location is accomplished.
While the "rake and break" was being employed at the front of the house, Ingram attempted to enter the residence through the kitchen door. The door was an exterior, heavy, windowless, composite wood door, with a lockless doorknob set below a single cylinder deadbolt lock mortised into the door. Prior to using the frangible rounds, Ingram attempted to open the door by turning the doorknob. While the doorknob turned freely, the door did not open and Ingram concluded that the deadbolt was engaged.
Ingram then used a shotgun to fire frangible rounds at the door's locking system. According to SWAT team training and Ingram's own testimony, the optimal angle from which to shoot a frangible round is a downward 45-degree angle. The purpose of this angle is to push any possible debris downward to prevent injuries. The exact angle used by Ingram is not known, but evidence at trial indicated that Ingram did fire at a downward angle. The frangible rounds fired by Ingram are designed to disintegrate into powder upon impact with metal. In attempting to breach the kitchen door, Ingram fired five frangible rounds.
Ingram stated that his first shot " enetrated the door right where the throw was, about the location of the throw, or where the throw is. You can't see the throw obviously when the door is locked, but approximately where the throw is." In discussing the second shot, Ingram stated that he pointed the barrel of his shotgun below the hole created by the first shot. When asked why he aimed below his first shot, Ingram stated that the door had not swung open on the first shot and "how you work this is you shoot, you look, you shoot, you look, working in a pattern to clear it where the throw would be." Ingram was next asked about the angle of each of the shots and he replied that the angle would become steeper as he went down from the first shot to the last shot, such that the first shot was the least steep angle and the last shot was the most steep angle.
After each shot, Ingram testified that he made a "visual and toe chec
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