Widow Files Wrongful Death Suit Against Local Sheriff, Others In Connection With Shooting Death Of Locksmith/Hubby During Forcible Eviction Of Occupant In Foreclosed Apartment

In Fresno, California, Courthouse News Service reports:

• A widow's husband was killed because the sheriff sent him to drill open the door of a heavily armed, deranged man, who shot him to death during a forcible eviction, the widow claims in court.
  
  Irina Engert sued Stanislaus County, Sheriff Adam Christianson, three of his officers, and RT Financial, the owner of the apartment where Jim Ferrario, 45, lived. Engert's husband, Glendon, was shot to death on April 12, 2012, by Ferrario, who "had been subject to foreclosure proceedings since January 2012," according to the federal complaint.
  
  The complaint states: "On April 12, 2012, the Stanislaus Sheriffs' Office sent a young civilian locksmith, Glendon Engert, into a situation the sheriffs knew was dangerous and life-threatening.
  
  Mr. Engert was hired to accompany two sheriffs deputies to assist in an eviction by drilling open the door lock of a residence inhabited by a man known to sheriffs as being mentally disordered, who possessed a cache of weapons, including high-powered automatic military-style rifles, and who had military training, with surveillance cameras mounted inside and outside the residence, who had threatened others in the past, and who was a clear and present danger to himself and anyone who approached him.
  
  The sheriffs, as well as the property owner, gave no warning to Mr. Engert about the danger in which they were placing him, did nothing to protect him, and failed to take alternative measures that could have kept him out of harm's way."

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• Irina Engert seeks punitive damages for wrongful death, negligence, civil rights violations, and municipal liability.

For more, see Widow Blames Sheriff for Husband's Death.