美國科羅拉多州華裔酒品零售店老板開槍打傷竊賊反被竊賊告到法庭索賠10萬美元，
Shot shoplifter sues liquor store owner
A shoplifter who was chased down and shot in the face after swiping a bottle of vodka from a Colorado Springs liquor store is suing the shop owner.
Bryson Adrian Dewberry is seeking at least $100,000 for pain and suffering two years after he was wounded in the jaw by a bullet fired by Chang Ho Yi, the owner of Austin Bluffs Plaza Liquor, 4150 Austin Bluffs Parkway.
According to a lawsuit filed in early October, Yi witnessed the theft on Oct. 25, 2010, and pursued Dewberry out of his store with a loaded .357 revolver, which fired as Dewberry was in the backseat of a getaway car.
The bullet hit Dewberry in the torso before it passed through his jaw and exited through a cheek, the lawsuit said.
The same projectile hit a 17-year-old passenger in the leg, Colorado Springs police said at the time.
Dewberry’s lawsuit alleges that Yi behaved “negligently and recklessly” in brandishing a gun at a shoplifter who posed no physical threat. Colorado law permits residents to use deadly force in self-defense, but offers no such protections in defense of property. Yi and his company, Yi Enterprises Inc., are the sole defendants.
Although Yi was initially arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, the El Paso County District Attorney’s Office sent the case to a grand jury, which declined to charge Yi. His attorney, Alan C. Gasper, said afterward that he would have argued at trial that Yi had been hit on the head during the episode and was disoriented when the gun went off.
Colorado Springs police were told of no such assault during their investigation. After Dewberry and another man showed up at a Colorado Springs hospital with a story about getting shot while shoplifting, police said Yi denied any knowledge of a shooting and said he didn’t own a gun.
Yi later told a Gazette reporter that he didn’t cooperate with police because they seemed to have sided with the shoplifter. During an interview after he was cleared of criminal charges, Yi said he and fellow merchants had been hit with rising crime in the north Colorado Springs neighborhood, including 2009 robbery in which he was himself wounded in the abdomen.
Yi recovered and returned to the store, though his shooter was never captured.
Yi also detailed a fanciful history with Fort Carson’s 10th Special Forces Group, claiming he retired Green Beret and that he had once been wounded during a covert mission. Army discharge papers appear to debunk those claims, however, showing that Yi trained as a truck mechanic and had no affiliation with the elite unit.
Dewberry, who has had repeated run-ins with the law, wasn’t charged in the incident. According to the lawsuit, he is “disfigured” and suffered wounds to his lips and tongue that require ongoing speech therapy
Bryson Adrian Dewberry is seeking at least $100,000 for pain and suffering two years after he was wounded in the jaw by a bullet fired by Chang Ho Yi, the owner of Austin Bluffs Plaza Liquor, 4150 Austin Bluffs Parkway.
According to a lawsuit filed in early October, Yi witnessed the theft on Oct. 25, 2010, and pursued Dewberry out of his store with a loaded .357 revolver, which fired as Dewberry was in the backseat of a getaway car.
The bullet hit Dewberry in the torso before it passed through his jaw and exited through a cheek, the lawsuit said.
The same projectile hit a 17-year-old passenger in the leg, Colorado Springs police said at the time.
Dewberry’s lawsuit alleges that Yi behaved “negligently and recklessly” in brandishing a gun at a shoplifter who posed no physical threat. Colorado law permits residents to use deadly force in self-defense, but offers no such protections in defense of property. Yi and his company, Yi Enterprises Inc., are the sole defendants.
Although Yi was initially arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, the El Paso County District Attorney’s Office sent the case to a grand jury, which declined to charge Yi. His attorney, Alan C. Gasper, said afterward that he would have argued at trial that Yi had been hit on the head during the episode and was disoriented when the gun went off.
Colorado Springs police were told of no such assault during their investigation. After Dewberry and another man showed up at a Colorado Springs hospital with a story about getting shot while shoplifting, police said Yi denied any knowledge of a shooting and said he didn’t own a gun.
Yi later told a Gazette reporter that he didn’t cooperate with police because they seemed to have sided with the shoplifter. During an interview after he was cleared of criminal charges, Yi said he and fellow merchants had been hit with rising crime in the north Colorado Springs neighborhood, including 2009 robbery in which he was himself wounded in the abdomen.
Yi recovered and returned to the store, though his shooter was never captured.
Yi also detailed a fanciful history with Fort Carson’s 10th Special Forces Group, claiming he retired Green Beret and that he had once been wounded during a covert mission. Army discharge papers appear to debunk those claims, however, showing that Yi trained as a truck mechanic and had no affiliation with the elite unit.
Dewberry, who has had repeated run-ins with the law, wasn’t charged in the incident. According to the lawsuit, he is “disfigured” and suffered wounds to his lips and tongue that require ongoing speech therapy
