South Carolina Town Ordered to Pay Nearly $100,000 for Hiring Cop with Troubled Past who Ended up Killing MayorBy Larry DiffeyPINAC Oct. 21, 2014 |
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[Pictured: Bert Reeves, left, and Randall Price, right.] A federal jury awarded an astronomical $97.5 million dollars to the family of a former mayor who was shot and killed by a police officer with a troubled past. Now the town of Cottageville, population 750, is wondering how and if it will ever pay the money to the family of Bert Reeves, who was killed by Randall Price, a cop who had been through eight jobs in 11 years, including having been fired from several departments. The lawsuit contended that the town never should have hired Price knowing his troubled history. Price is also named in a separate lawsuit from another Cottageville resident. Now there is talk that the police department may be disbanded, according to the Charleston Post and Courier. The controversy over the shooting nearly led the town to disband its police department. McLeod said the town should revisit that issue and consider dumping the police department in favor of a substation for Colleton County sheriff’s deputies. “That would make the town safer overnight,” he said.Price, who is no longer a cop is exactly the type of bad cop PINAC intends to track as part of our on going efforts to collect information on bad cops as they move from one job to the next and continue to leave a trail of lies, murder and other misconduct in their wake. Our mission is to create a database on the new site we are working to launch before the end of the year. Price remains free and has not yet been charged with a crime. Price claimed the shooting was self-defense. Since there were no witnesses, it’s unlikely that Price will ever see prison time for the shooting even if he gets charged. Prior to the shooting, the two men had a history of conflict, according to the Jim Fisher True Crime blog: Along a dirt road in Cottageville, South Carolina on May 16, 2011, Officer Randall Price of the Cottageville Police Department shot and killed Bert Reeves, a local construction company owner and the town’s former mayor. They were both 40-years-old, had an antagonistic history between them, and, at the time of the shooting, were engaged in physical combat. The backgrounds of both men involved conflict and trouble. Reeves, shot in the chest, died from his wounds at a local hospital. The chief of the six-man police department, consisting of only two full-time patrol officers, placed Officer Price on paid administrative leave pending the investigation of the shooting by detectives with the state.The town only has $1 million insurance policy which is obviously not enough to cover the award. Although it is likely the award will be reduced upon appeal, the town may have to declare bankruptcy. The town has already disbanded its police force which appears to have been the biggest source of revenue for the town. Between 2008 and 2011, Price alone brought in more than $600 thousand in revenue generated from tickets. Clearly this town was policing for profit, not for the safety of the town and its residents. Many small towns rely on ticket revenue and civil asset forfeiture as either a primary source of revenue or a way to pad their budgets. |