Use of force at center of wrongful death suit

Deputy on trial for shooting in 2012

Bleeding from gunshot wounds that would soon kill him, Seth Adams didn’t believe the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy who told him help was on the way, his family’s attorney told jurors Tuesday.

“Seth Adams says, ‘You are not going to help me . ... One of your guys shot me,’” said attorney Wallace McCall, who represents Adams’ family.

Nearly five years after Adams was gunned down in Loxahatchee Groves, a federal civil trial is underway in West Palm Beach to determine whether the undercover officer who shot him was justified in using deadly force.

Adams’ family has filed

Custer has said that Adams reached into his truck, prompting Custer to shoot because he feared Adams was going for a weapon.

an excessive force and wrongful death lawsuit against the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s office and Sgt. Michael Custer, who fired the shots that killed the unarmed 24-year-old.

Adams’ parents, Lydia and Richard Adams, are seeking millions in damages for what they contend was an unjustified shooting, poorly investigated by the Sheriff ’s Office.

“A shooting cannot be reasonable or justified if it is based on a lie,” said McCall, who at times Tuesday became choked with emotion during his opening statement to the jury.

Attorneys for Custer and the Sheriff’s Office maintain that Adams turned violent that night, choking the officer after finding him parked on the familyowned nursery where Adams lived.

Custer has said that after the struggle, Adams reached into his truck, prompting Custer to shoot because he feared Adams was going for a weapon. There was none found.

But the lack of a weapon doesn’t mean the shooting wasn’t justified, because Adams’ actions that night put Custer in fear for his life, argued attorney Summer Barranco, who represents Custer and the Sheriff ’s Office.

“Sgt. Custer was convinced that [Adams] had grabbed a weapon,” Barranco said. “He thought that was it for him.”

Nine jurors — five men and four women — were screened Monday and Tuesday for potential conflicts of interest and prior knowledge of the case, which has garnered wide news coverage.

The case is expected to last four weeks, featuring the testimony of law enforcement officers, forensic experts, Custer and members of Adams’ family.

“One of the crucial issues in the case is going to be whether the use of deadly force was justified or not,” Senior U.S. District Judge Daniel T. K. Hurley told jurors.

Jurors on Tuesday heard how on May 16, 2012, Custer was part of an undercover team on surveillance, trying to catch a group of people who were stealing ATMs.

Custer, wearing plain clothes and driving an unmarked black Ford Explorer, parked in the darkened lot of A One Stop Garden Shop nursery, 1950 A Road.

Adams, who lived and worked at his family’s nursery, came home about 11:40 p.m. after attending a community fundraiser at a nearby bar and restaurant.

Custer, in a videotaped statement two days after the shooting, told investigators that he identified himself as an undercover officer when Adams arrived. He said they both got out of their vehicles and that Adams started screaming obscenities at him, telling him to get off the property.

“He caught me by surprise. He grabbed my throat,” Custer said in the video, which was shown to the jury Tuesday.

Custer said he broke away from Adams, pointed his gun and, while radioing for help, ordered Adams to get on the ground. Custer said Adams instead moved toward the truck and reached into the cab.

“I thought he had grabbed a weapon and he was going to kill me,” Custer said on the video. “The last thing I saw was my wife’s face as he was spinning around.”

Custer fired four shots. Adams, shot in the arm and the chest, staggered away into the darkness, managing to unchain the nursery’s gate before falling. He died two hours later at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach.

“Seth Adams was coming back from drinking beer at a bar,” Barranco said. “Perhaps because he had been drinking, he didn’t think it through well enough.”

But the Adams family lawyers dispute Custer’s account. While Adams had been drinking that night, he wasn’t inebriated, McCall said. The family’s attorneys plan to present forensic evidence that indicates Adams was shot while he was standing near the rear of his truck — not able to reach into the cab as Custer suggests.

Adams’ trail of blood, as well as the location of the shell casings discharged from Custer’s gun, show “Seth Adams could not possibly have been standing where Sgt. Custer said he was when [Adams] was shot,” McCall said.

Wednesday, jurors are expected to see more of a 2014 deposition where Custer discusses the shooting.

Adams