South Carolina man gets $750K after police mistake him for a burglar, shoot and paralyze him

A South Carolina man settled a lawsuit against the Charleston County Sheriff's Office for $750,000, years after he was shot by police who mistook him for a burglar in his own home.

Bryant Heyward received the payout in May, four years after he called 911 to report a home invasion and was shot in the neck by a sheriff's deputy, his lawyer Justin Bamberg told USA TODAY. The shooting left him paralyzed from the neck down, Bamberg said.

"He was blessed to have survived an encounter like that because we see citizens all the time who don’t," Bamberg said. "Although he has physical limitations now and his life will never be the same he’s determined to make the best out of the rest of his life."

In May 2015, Heyward called 911 to report that two armed suspects were trying to break into his house. He was able to get a handgun and return fire, but when police arrived, they shot him believing he was the intruder.

“Wrong guy, sir,” Heyward yelled when the bullet pierced his neck, according to the Post and Courier. “This is my house.”

Heyward filed a lawsuit against the sheriff's office in 2017. The South Carolina Attorney General's Office concluded that Charleston County Deputy Keith Tyner had acted appropriately in response to an apparent deadly threat and declined to prosecute in January 2018.

"The young man did everything that he was supposed to do, was within his rights to do," Bamberg said. "And it's just a very, very tragic incident."

Bamberg said he believes race likely played a role in the shooting of Heyward, who is black. The incident happened a month after Walter Scott was shot by police in North Charleston. He said law enforcement officers across America need to reflect on their response to armed citizens, noting the similarities between Heyward's case and what happened to Atatiana Jefferson, who was shot by police in Fort Worth when she pulled a gun from her purse after hearing someone walking around her house.

If the case had gone to trial the verdict likely would've been in the millions, according to Bamberg, but it would've gotten reduced because of the South Carolina Tort Claims Act which caps the amount a citizen can recover at $300,000. In addition to the settlement, the case has also resulted in a change to policy, which now requires dispatchers to ask homeowners if they are armed, Bamberg said.

"Not everybody’s dangerous and if law enforcement doesn’t quit treating everybody as though they’re dangerous people we’re going to keep having innocent people shot and killed and maimed," Bamberg said.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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