Lotto Winner Who Was Wrongfully Shot by Trespassing Police Awarded $3.2 Million

Of course some people will say that this guy hit the jackpot again, but he won't get much of the money, most will go to his lawyers. Too bad this money won't come out of the cop's pension fund, it will just come out of the city's insurance, so it's really no punishment to them.

[link to www.orlandosentinel.com]

Seminole sheriff pays $3.2M to Lotto winner shot by deputies
Two deputies opened fire on Robert G. Swofford Jr. five years ago.

By Rene Stutzman, Orlando Sentinel
2:59 p.m. EDT, August 31, 2011

Robert G. Swofford Jr., the lottery winner who was shot and critically wounded by Seminole County deputies one night on his own property, has settled his federal lawsuit for $3.2 million.

Swofford, now 60, heard people on his property near Altamonte Springs the night of April 20, 2006, and went out to investigate with a semiautomatic pistol in his hand.

Two Seminole County deputies, William Morris Jr. and Ronnie Remus, opened fire. They were trying to track a suspected burglar and had poked a hole in Swofford's fence and gone onto his property.

They said they called out several times, identified themselves and told Swofford to drop his weapon. Swofford gave a different account. He said the deputies gave no warning and that he never pointed his weapon at them.

He was hospitalized for six months. He would not give details Wednesday about his recovery or long-term health problems except to say, "There are still problems from it that I'll have from here on out. You don't take (a hit from a) 9 millimeter and walk away from it."

snip

The Sheriff's Office said those pieces of evidence were unintentionally lost or destroyed.

Swofford had won a $35 million Florida Lotto jackpot in 2004.