PBSO settles shooting suit for $300K; deputy’s insurer to pay, too

April 06--WEST PALM BEACH -- A 39-year-old mentally ill man who was shot by an off-duty Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputy will receive $600,000 -- half of which will come from the tax-funded agency -- to settle a federal lawsuit that accused the office of violating the Royal Palm Beach man's civil rights.

Aldo Alvarez, who survived after Deputy Joshua McGehee shot him six times when he wandered into the deputy's garage three years ago, will also receive $300,000 from McGehee's homeowner's insurance carrier, said attorney Stuart Kaplan, who represented Alvarez and his parents in the litigation.

While unusual for a homeowner's policy to cover a police shooting, Kaplan said it was because it occurred at McGehee's home and because he sued the officer personally. Further, while Kaplan disputed the claims, attorneys for the Sheriff's Office argued that McGehee was off-duty so it wasn't responsible for his actions.

Neither sheriff's officials nor their attorneys returned phone calls for comment about the $300,000 they agreed to pay to end the litigation. But records show the lawsuit was likely to get nasty -- and personal -- for Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.

In court papers, Kaplan argued that "psychological or neurological" ills made McGehee unfit to be a deputy. But, he claimed, McGehee got special treatment because his mother, Annette Marvin, is Bradshaw's executive assistant.

Routine psychological tests that would have disqualified McGehee from being promoted from his job as a parking enforcement specialist were waived because of the relationship between his mother and Bradshaw, Kaplan claimed in court papers. He said he suspected McGehee has Tourette's syndrome, which is classified as a tic disorder but, in severe cases, can be accompanied by attention deficit disorder or obsessive compulsive disorder.

Shortly before the lawsuit was settled last month, sheriff's attorneys balked at providing "highly sensitive psychiatric, mental health or medical information" about McGehee. Such personal information, they claimed, was irrelevant.

McGehee, who lived across the street from Alvarez and his parents in the Nautica Lakes community, claimed he had no choice but to shoot. Alvarez, he claimed, entered his garage, cornered him and ignored his repeated orders to leave. State Attorney Dave Aronberg found the shooting was justified.

Kaplan argued that bullet casings found at McGehee's home disputed his account. They show McGehee fired toward the house, contradicting his claims that Alvarez had him cornered, he said.

The settlement, more than has been paid to most others who have been shot by Bradshaw's deputies, will give Alvarez's parents the ability to enroll Alvarez in vocational programs, Kaplan said. "They're hopeful their son, to whatever extent possible, can one day live on his own," he said. But the fallout is far from over.

Alvarez still faces two felony counts -- battery on a law enforcement officer and burglary with assault or battery. Diagnosed as a schizophrenic shortly after graduating from high school, Alvarez was deemed incompetent to stand trial. While he no longer is on house arrest, he is prohibited from leaving without one of his parents.

In light of the settlement of the civil lawsuit, Kaplan said he will ask prosecutors to drop the charges. "Aldo Alvarez was never a threat to anyone," he said. "He was just saying hello to a neighbor."

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