Judge rules on lawsuit over fatal Columbus crash as cops chased murder suspect
A judge has dismissed a lawsuit over a Columbus police officer’s running down a murder suspect during a police chase in 2017.
Muscogee State Court Judge Andy Prather found that Cpl. Ryan Vardman’s actions were justified in running over Deonte Giles, 22, who was fleeing from police when he crashed head-on into an officer’s car on Cusseta Road, then got out of his Ford Fusion with a gun, according to authorities.
That’s when Vardman, who had been following Giles, ran the suspect over, pinning him beneath Vardman’s car, police said.
“Giles was swept under Vardman’s car, which also collided with the Fusion before stopping a short distance down Cusseta Road,” attorneys for the city wrote in a 2021 court filing. “Giles remained under Vardman’s car — for approximately a minute and 20 seconds — until a sufficient number of officers arrived to lift it.”
Giles had no vital signs. The gun he had was found on the ground nearby, attorneys wrote.
On behalf of Giles’ mother, Karisha Upshaw, and Giles’ son, an infant in 2017, Columbus attorney Katonga Wright initially filed a wrongful death suit in federal court on May 20, 2019. But she voluntarily dismissed that claim on Feb. 3, 2021, and filed it again Aug. 2, 2021, in Muscogee State Court.
Named as defendants were Vardman, the police department and then-Police Chief Ricky Boren. Vardman and Boren were sued both as police officers and individuals. The suit claimed they were liable for Giles’ pain and suffering, medical and funeral expenses.
Requesting a trial by jury, the suit sought $1 million in compensation, $1 million in punitive damages, the “full value” of Giles’ life.
In his decision bearing Saturday’s date, Judge Prather issued a “summary judgment” in the city’s favor, finding Vardman was within his authority to use deadly force, and neither the city government nor the police chief were liable for what happened.
“The evidence is clear that Officer Vardman had reason to believe the decedent posed an immediate threat of violence to the officer and others,” Prather wrote. “There is no evidence that Officer Vardman acted for any reason other than to neutralize the reasonably perceived threat posed by the decedent.”
Prather also found no evidence that then-Chief Boren acted with “willful, malicious or specific intent” to harm Giles through Boren’s hiring, training and supervising Vardman.
The plaintiffs have the option of appealing Prather’s ruling to the Georgia Court of Appeals. Wright said Monday that she and her clients were surprised by Prather’s decision, and had not decided whether to appeal it.
The chase
According to court documents, police were called shortly before noon May 18, 2017, after Giles used a pistol to threaten a girlfriend at Farley Homes, a public housing complex on Nina Street.
Because Giles was a suspect in the slaying of Dudley Jones Jr., 44, shot weeks earlier on Ticknor Drive, police had a warrant for his arrest. When he fled in the Fusion, they continued the pursuit, hoping to clear the murder case.
Giles was speeding east on Cusseta Road as a patrol car driven by Officer Michael Balauitan approached from the opposite direction. Giles swerved into oncoming traffic to hit Balauitan’s cruiser, and both cars wrecked, police said.
Columbus attorney Thomas Gristina of the law firm Page, Scrantom, Sprouse, Tucker & Ford represented Vardman, Boren and the city. In a statement issued Monday, he wrote that Balauitan’s patrol car “was nearly torn in half” by the head-on collision, and the officer was seriously injured.
Vardman, headed east, had been leading the chase behind Giles.
“Corporal Vardman then saw Giles climbing out of his car with a pistol in his hand,” Gristina wrote. “Corporal Vardman at that time used his police vehicle to neutralize the rapidly expanding deadly threat. Corporal Vardman’s use of force was not only appropriate, it likely saved the lives of other officers and citizens.”
In his ruling, Judge Prather acknowledged that “the undisputed facts of this case are disturbing,” and added, “There is no pleasant way for a law enforcement agent or agents to utilize deadly force regardless of the justification. The deliberate use of violent deadly force by a person vested with the authority to use it should be of concern to all.”
But he concluded: “Of equal importance are the safeguards built into our legal system that allow our governmental agencies to protect us by using law enforcement agents trained and capable of exercising discretion in life-or-death situations requiring immediate and decisive action.”
Vardman has since been involved in another fatality: Authorities said he fatally shot 32-year-old Alonzo Carter outside an Armour Road nightclub March 11, after Carter ignored police commands to drop his gun, having just exchanged fire with someone else.
Vardman and a second officer were working security off-duty for a nearby Chevron station when they heard the gunfire and intervened, authorities said. He remains on administrative leave as the Georgia Bureau of Investigation reviews the evidence.
This story was originally published August 22, 2022 at 11:18 AM.