The Associated Press
WILMINGTON, N.C.- Former colleagues of a deputy who fatally shot an unarmed teen suspected of stealing two Playstation 3s tried raffling off another of the consoles to benefit the fired officer’s family.
The New Hanover County sheriff’s office threatened this week to fire two deputies if they continued selling tickets in the drawing a police officer was holding for one of the sought-after video game systems.
A police officer who started the raffle said Friday he would continue without deputies’ help, though he has substituted a big-screen TV as the prize. Police Sgt. Curt Stansbury said he and several deputies who started the raffle just wanted to make sure former Deputy Christopher Long’s two children had a good Christmas.
Authorities say Long mistook the sound of a police battering ram for gunshots and fired through Peyton Strickland’s front door Dec. 1, hitting him in the head and upper body.
Strickland, 18, was suspected of beating a University of North Carolina at Wilmington student and robbing him of two PlayStation 3s worth more than $600 each. Two of Strickland’s friends are charged in the attack.
“I thought it was most inappropriate,” Tom Parker, the chief deputy, said of the raffle. “It flies in the Strickland family’s face, as it would any family who’s lost a loved one.”
Don Beskind, who practices law with Strickland’s father, a Raleigh lawyer, said Friday that the Stricklands knew about the raffle and that “they don’t care to dignify it with a comment.”
Long, 34, and two other deputies were placed on administrative leave after the shooting, and he was fired Dec. 8. The other two officers were cleared of wrongdoing.
Stansbury said that he has collected more than $800 since the raffle began last week, but that no officers or deputies sold the $20 tickets on duty.
Long was charged Dec. 11 with second-degree murder, but the charge was withdrawn a day later when a grand jury foreman said he mistakenly marked on a form that the panel wanted to indict Long.
District Attorney Ben David has said he will continue to investigate. A new grand jury is to convene next month.