Korryn Gaines’ Family Granted Over $37 Million By Jury
On Friday afternoon (Feb. 16), a jury that comprised of six women found Cpl. Royce Ruby’s fatal shooting of Korryn Gaines unreasonable and a clear violation of the mother of two’s civil rights. Gaines’ family was allotted nearly $37 million, the Baltimore Sun reports.
In 2016, police officers arrived at Gaines’ home in Randallstown, Md., and engaged in a standoff that spanned six hours. Ruby and Officer Allen Griffen III were at Gaines’ residence to reportedly serve an arrest warrant. The document stated that Gaines failed to show up in court to dispute a traffic discrepancy, but she didn’t trust the validity of the papers so she remained enclosed in her home as the officers were armed outside. Gaines was with her 5-year-old son at the time, who was shot twice on the scene.
In Griffin’s testimony, he said he witnessed Gaines in possession of a firearm as the officers peeked through a crack in the front door. The then 23-year-old and her son recorded the scene as it unfolded. Once they attempted to move into the kitchen, Ruby thought he saw Gaines raise her shotgun and proceeded to release his weapon’s bullets through a wall. The Baltimore Sun reports that once Ruby entered the room he “shot Gaines three more times” out of fear that other “officers were going to die.” No criminal charges were brought against the officers, which led Gaines’ family to file a wrongful death lawsuit.
Rhanda Dormeus, Gaines’ mother, exhaled once the verdict came in and highlighted the “Mother’s of the Movement” in her statement. “This win is for all of my sisters in the movement who have lost their children to police violence. Some of them have never received justice, either criminally or civil. I just want to tell them that this win is for them,” Dormeus said.
Following Gaines’ death, Ruby remained on the police force and even rose in rank, the news site adds.
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