As I reported here four years ago, Gonzalo Guizan was killed in a SWAT raid four years ago. Justice is not always swift, and a lawyer for one of the towns Gonzalo's mother is suing is now appealing a judge's ruling that her lawsuit can go forward. from the news article :
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A lawyer for the town of Monroe Tuesday asked a federal appeals court to overturn a lower court ruling keeping alive the lawsuit filed against five towns that provided the officers for the heavily armed SWAT team that killed an unarmed Easton man in his home four years ago.
Scott Karsten, who represents the town as well as the officer who fired the fatal shots, filed the appeal with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City. He did not return calls for comment. The lawyers for the other towns are also expected to appeal.
Last month, in a 46-page decision, U.S. District Court Judge Janet Bond Arterton refused to throw out the lawsuit, ruling there is sufficient evidence for a jury to decide whether members of the Southwest Regional Emergency Response Team, (SWERT) staffed by officers from Darien, Easton, Monroe, Trumbull and Wilton used unreasonable force as alleged in the lawsuit filed by the family of Gonzalo Guizan and Easton homeowner, Ronald Terebesi. She set down the case for a trial on Feb. 11.
"We are confident that Mrs. Guizan will see justice in this case, no matter how long it takes," said Morgan Ruecker, who represents the Guizan family, in response to the appeal.
Gary Mastronardi, who represents Terebesi, added that an appeal was expected after Arterton's decision.
The 33-year-old Guizan was shot half a dozen times by Monroe officer Michael Sweeney during a raid SWERT at Terebesi's home at 91 Dogwood Drive, Easton on May 18, 2008.
Guizan had been watching television in the home with Terebesi, when the 21-member police team, armed with automatic weapons, broke down the door and threw flash grenades inside.
The lawsuit states that then Easton Police Chief John Solomon and present chief James Candee made the decision to call in SWERT after an exotic dancer who had earlier been at the home told them she saw Terebesi and Guizan take "something" out of a small tin, place it in two small glass smoking pipes and smoke it. She never told officers there were weapons in the home, the suit states.
The lawsuit also claims Sweeney shot Guizan after becoming disoriented when one of the flash grenades deployed by police detonated in front of him and after another officer erroneously shouted he had been shot.
