Published: May 06, 2008 10:55 pm         

Officials respond to lawsuit against RCSD

Officials named in the wrongful death lawsuit filed Monday claming negligence on behalf of members of the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department who shot and killed a Cabell Heights man on July 4, 2006, had little or no comment Tuesday regarding the allegations, saying they had not yet received a copy of the suit.

The sheriff’s department, the Raleigh County Commission, Sheriff Danny Moore, Chief Deputy Steve Tanner, Deputy Greg S. Kade and Deputy John E. Hajash are listed as defendants in the suit filed by Charleston attorneys Michael A. Olivio and Travis A. Griffith on behalf of Mary Webb, widow of Robert Webb.

“I’m certain we will have very strong comments about it after reading the suit,” Tanner said Tuesday afternoon. A spokeswoman for the sheriff’s department said Moore, who is out on medical leave, would not comment on the suit and Tanner would speak on behalf of the department.

According to Register-Herald archives and the complaint, Webb, 44, was shot to death outside his residence by Hajash and Kade, who responded to a complaint that he was playing loud music and shooting an AK-47 assault rifle outside his Cabell home.

Commission president Pat Reed expressed sympathy for Webb’s family but said she was unaware of the details of the suit and was unable to comment.

“Of course, we feel very sorry for the family and we realize that litigation is going on,” she said following Tuesday’s county commission meeting. “I haven’t seen the paperwork and really couldn’t comment on it if I had because of the litigation.”

Commission member John Aliff added,

“We find ourselves in many cases in litigation that we have very little control over.

“But that’s what happens at the Raleigh County Commission level.”