A deputy with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office has been put on a paid administrative leave after accidentally shooting an Orlando home invasion victim, according to media reporting.
As of Wednesday morning, the deputy has not been named and officials with the Florida Law Enforcement Division is investigating.
The shooting took place around 3 p.m. on Aug. 23 when a 911 caller reported a home invasion. The caller, a man in his 40s, told dispatchers that four people tried to break into his home and that he had fired shots at them. All four ran away before deputies arrived, according to reporting from The Miami Herald.
When police arrived and the man unlocked the door for them, “one of the deputies accidentally discharged his agency firearm and struck the victim,” police said in a statement. First responders took the man to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and he was released later that day.
The man has not been named.
Leesfield & Partners
Leesfield & Partners is a 48-year personal injury law firm with a track record of diligently representing injured clients against corporations, individuals and government agencies. Our skilled trial attorneys have secured record verdicts and settlements throughout Florida. With offices in Miami, Key West and Orlando, Leesfield & Partners has been afforded the opportunity to be a part of numerous historic cases, conveying the compassion and knowledge of the law necessary to deliver the best possible outcome in every case. Previously, Leesfield & Partners has been successful in recovering damages for the victims of accidents caused by the negligence of federal and state employees’ negligence. In the past, the firm has handled an array of cases involving aviation accidents, maritime law, premises liability, and medical malpractice cases at government-owned and military hospitals.
This type of litigation can create legal hurdles and requires attorneys with specialized knowledge of its complexities. It is important to note that, when pursuing damages against a government entity in Florida, there are statutory limits on recovery. Under Florida law, damages against a state agency, municipality or other governmental body are capped at $200,000 per individual claimant and $300,000 per incident, regardless of the number of victims. Punitive damages are also restricted in most personal injury cases, generally capped at three times the amount of compensatory damages or $500,000, whichever is greater, with certain exceptions for intentional misconduct. In some situations, however, it may be possible to obtain a higher recovery through a legislative claims bill, a favorable settlement, or a jury verdict that later prompts additional compensation depending on the specifics of the case.
Despite these limitations, pursuing a claim can still provide meaningful compensation for medical expenses, lost wages and other damages. Equally as important, strong cases against negligent entities can expose broader systemic issues and help bring about necessary change.
Previous Cases
Leesfield & Partners attorneys handled a wrongful death drowning case for a husband and father of two young children following the death of his family due to the negligence of the U.S. Navy. In this case, handled by the firm’s Founder and Managing Partner, Ira Leesfield, the U.S. Navy failed to maintain its pier in a safe condition, resulting in the deaths of Mr. Grayson’s wife and his two daughters, a 3-year-old and an infant.
Our client was awarded $2.95 million by a federal judge in this case.
“Ivan Grayson, tormented by the mind-numbing horror of the tragedy that wiped his family from the face of the earth, desperately needs to know why this happened,” said U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King.
Leesfield & Partners represented a grieving family against the Federal Aviation Administration in a private aviation disaster. In that case, handled by Mr. Leesfield and co-counsel Mark A. Sylvester, the FAA was sued for the failure of their air traffic controllers to provide crucial severe weather information to the pilot, who perished in a single-engine airplane crash with his mother on board.
The manufacturer of a component part was named in the suit for a component part that powered the flight instrumentation. Additionally, the firm took legal action against the airplane manufacturer and a service facility.
The firm settled the case for over $2.8 million.
In a medical malpractice case involving a government medical facility, Leesfield & Partners secured a $2 million recovery.
In a similar medical malpractice case, the firm obtained a recovery of over $1.9 million.
A separate Federal Tort medical malpractice case resulted in a $1.9 million recovery.
The firm previously went up against a Florida department in a wrongful death case involving the electrocution death of our client’s loved one. The firm obtained a $1.65 million recovery in that case.
In a civil rights case involving the tragic death of our client’s loved one, Leesfield & Partners attorneys secured a $1 million recovery against a city.
The firm represented the estate of a man who was wrongfully killed in a police-involved shooting and obtained a $900,000 recovery for the victim’s family.
Trial Lawyer Bernardo Pimentel II settled a case on behalf of the family of a young lobster diver and father-to-be who was killed during lobster season by a negligent law enforcement officer.
In that case, the officer failed to adhere to divers-down flag laws that call for boaters to operate at idle speed when these flags are present and to keep within a certain distance of these flags. In rivers, inlets and navigational channels, boaters must stay 100 feet away from these flags. In open waters, they should keep a 300-foot distance.