Shooting story disputed

Video cited by lawyer for slain man’s family

LOXAHATCHEE — A lawyer representing the family of a man shot dead by a deputy says he has obtained surveillance video that calls into question authorities’ use of force in the Dec. 31 encounter.

Ricky Whidden “was running away and he was shot in the back,” said Stuart Kaplan, an attorney representing Whid- den’s family. “The officers made absolutely no attempt to negotiate with him.”

But Teri Barbera, a spokeswoman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, said that, on the contrary, footage of the encounter clearly shows Whidden refusing deputy commands.

Whidden, 46, was shot and killed by Justin Rigney, a 10-year-veteran sheriff’s deputy assigned to the K-9 unit, according to the sheriff ’s office.

Deputies were responding just before 2 a.m. that day to a report of a man armed with a knife who was threatening himself and his family in the 13000 block of Compton Road in Loxahatchee, the agency said.

Footage of the encounter, viewed by the Sun Sentinel, shows deputies’ vehicles pull up to the property. Whidden apparently begins to run, but falls at some point during the encounter. He then gets back up and runs before collapsing as multiple flashes of light are seen.

Whidden likely was in the grip of a mental health crisis, and deputies failed to defuse the situation, Kaplan said, citing information from Whidden’s mother, who said she witnessed the encounter.

“Mental illness is not a crime,” Kaplan said.

Whidden, a father of three, never ran directly toward the deputies, Kaplan said. The video shows him running diagonally across his neighbor’s yard, away from the deputies in the front yard, he said.

Barbera said the agency stands by its Dec. 31 news release describing the encounter.

Deputies tried to negotiate with Whidden, but he refused to comply with deputies’ commands, the statement said. A deputy used a “nonlethal weapon” to knock him down, the sheriff’s news release said.

When deputies approached to take him into custody, he jumped up and lunged at the deputies and was shot, the release said. “The K9 deputy, in fear for his life and the life of his K9 partner, discharged his firearm, striking Whidden in the torso area,” Barbera later said of the video.

Subsequently, the sheriff ’s office also publicly released a picture of the knife that deputies say Whidden had in the encounter.

Whidden’s mother, Diane Whidden, on Friday told the Sun Sentinel she watched the encounter unfold.

Her son never threatened the deputies, she said. He had his arms raised as he backed up, and he never got close to them, she said.

Diane Whidden, 66, said she told the 911 operator her son had a mental problem, but he wasn’t threatening the family.

Ricky Whidden was acting paranoid in the week leading up to his death, she said.

He had seemed fine at the family dinner that Friday night. But later in the night, he told his parents he was feeling suicidal, she said.

He picked up a knife and told her to call 911, she said. She said he never threatened anyone with the knife.

At one point, when his father had gone to the bathroom, she said, Ricky Whidden put down the knife, approached her and gave her a hug, telling her he loved her. Then he backed away from her and picked up the knife again, she said.

“He wanted somebody to come help him,” she said. “When you call 911 and say my son has a mental problem, you don’t expect him to die before your eyes.”

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the state attorney’s office are handling the shooting investigation.

Meanwhile, the sheriff’s office will handle the internal affairs inquiry.