GBHS grad awarded $350,000
BY FRANKLIN HAYES Gulf Breeze News franklin@gulfbreezenews.com

A federal jury awarded Gulf Breeze High School graduate Addison Salter $350,000 last week after determining Escambia County Sheriff's deputies used excessive force to subdue him in 2005.

"I'm really happy it's all over," Addison Salter said during a telephone interview not long after the conclusion of the case. "I feel vindicated."

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2006 and revolved around an incident at a Las Javenas Valentine's dance in Pensacola in February of 2005. Deputies were dispatched to the dance after a fight broke out between two teens. Deputies began arresting suspects and moving them outside the dance venue and were allegedly followed by Salter and others in protest. According to witness testimony, deputies unleashed their dog on Salter after he did not comply with their verbal commands. In their own testimony, deputies maintained Salter resisted them verbally and physically.

"My arm was torn up pretty bad," Salter said when describing his physical injuries. He added that he was bitten on the arm, back, buttocks and legs. Salter also said he began to have "terrible nightmares" not long after the incident and was eventually diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome.

The suit alleged that the two defendants, Escambia County Sheriff's deputies Tim Taylor and Jeremy Jarman, used excessive force and that "far less extreme measures could have and should have been used," prosecuting attorney Larry Matthews said. Attorney Kevin Hausfeld, who was also a part of the prosecution team, said the case was handled in federal court because Salter's constitutional civil rights had been violated in the attack.

"Kevin and I have the utmost respect for Sheriff McNesby and the men and women that work for him," Matthews said. "That being said, our position in trial was that what happened at the Las Javenas Dance should never have happened."

Taylor, the deputy that released the dog on Salter, was ordered by the court to pay $100,000 for Salter's related medical costs, $75,000 for mental and physical suffering and another $100,000 in punitive damages. Jarman was ordered to pay $25,000 for Salter's mental and physical suffering and $50,000 in punitive damages.

The deputies' defense attorney, Keith C. Tischler, expressed his disappointment in the verdict and said he will now focus on post-trial motions. Both Matthews and Tischler declined to comment on the ongoing posttrial motions.

"I thought we'd put on a good case and a convincing case," Tischler said. "I have no idea as to why [the jury] made the decision they made."

Tischler said no formal decision had been made to appeal the ruling, and that decision would be based largely on the outcome of post-trial motions.

"At any trial you always anticipate appeals," Matthews said.