Deputy requests return of pets seized to pay judgment

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Palm Beach County Sheriffff ’s Sgt. Adams Lin didn’t just lose his car and furniture last week when his personal belongings were seized to pay a West Palm Beach man he shot, leaving him paralyzed.

He lost his two dogs, his cat and an aquarium fifilled with fifish.

In court papers fifiled Thursday, Lin asked a federal magistrate to order the return of his pets and other belongings before they are sold at auction to pay part of a $22.4 million verdict Dontrell Stephens won last year after a jury found the deputy used excessive force when he shot Stephens, paralyz- ing him in 2013.

L i n c l a i m s s t a t e l a w exempts $5,000 of personal items from seizure. In an itemized list, he estimated the total value of his clothes, furniture and sporting goods at $3,962. He set the value of his dogs and cat at $100, his saltwater tank and fifish at $100, a computer at $400 and a 65-inch TV at $600.

While his 2014 Dodge Challenger could fetch as much as 22,000, because he owes more on it than it is worth, he estimated its value to Stephens at no more than $1,000. No hearing date has been set for his request.

The items were c ar ted away from Lin’s home by federal marshals Jan. 7 after Stephens’ attorneys, in a rare move, persuaded U.S. Magistrate Barry Seltzer that the law allowed them to be sold to pay the $22.4 million judgment they won for the 23-year-old paraplegic in a jury trial last year. By law, Lin wasn’t notifified of Seltzer’s decision.

Attorney Jack Scarola, who represents Stephens, said he is trying to force Sheriffff Ric Bradshaw’s hand. While the jury found Lin used excessive force when he shot Stephens in 2013, it also held the Sheriffff ’s Offiffice responsible for the judgment.

Bradshaw, Scarola said, should pay the $200,000 the agency would be legally be obligated to pay if the ver- dict is upheld on appeal. Under Florida law, that is the most government agencies can be forced to pay for wrongdoing. To get the full amount of the verdict, Scarola would have to ask the Florida Legislature to pass a claims bill, lifting the cap.

Scarola acknowledged that Lin’s belongings aren’t worth much. But he said Stephens, who grew up in poverty and never completed high school, is destitute.

“If I can collect $100 for Dontrell Stephens, I’ll collect $100 for Dontrell Stephens, “he said.