Shooting Victim Sues Police

WINNSBORO – A Winnsboro woman who was shot and wounded last October by her estranged husband, then a Winnsboro Department of Public Safety officer, has filed a civil lawsuit against the department on behalf of herself and her two children who witnesses the shooting.

John T. Mobley, attorney for Takisha (Keisha) Roseboro, filed the complaint Feb. 26 in the 6th Judicial Circuit’s Court of Common Pleas in Fairfield County. The suit claims that the Winnsboro Department of Public Safety was negligent in hiring and retaining Roseboro’s husband, Michael Bernard Roseboro, knowing that “prior to October of 2012, multiple parties have filed claims and made allegations indicating that (Michael) Roseboro had a history of using excessive force and/or engaging in other conduct that indicated he was mentally unstable and or had a tendency to engage in violent behavior,” the complaint states.

The Winnsboro Department of Public Safety “knew, or should have known, that the continued employment of (Michael) Roseboro would create an unreasonable risk of harm to others,” the lawsuit states. The suit claims that the department was negligent in its failure to properly screen, evaluate and make adequate inquiries into Roseboro’s background before hiring him; failure to properly supervise him; failure to take steps to determine if Roseboro was unfit, incompetent or a danger to third parties; failure to properly investigate allegations made against Roseboro; failure to terminate his employment after being put on notice of his propensity for violence and mental instability; failure to have proper guidelines and procedures in place that would have identified Roseboro as a danger to the community; failure to take precautionary steps to protect third parties from the risk of harm presented by Roseboro; and retaining Roseboro without remaining knowledgeable about his competence, fitness and safety around others.

As a result of seeing their mother shot, the suit claims, Roseboro’s children have “suffered emotional distress that has manifested itself by physical symptoms. . . .”

Takisha Roseboro is seeking relief for pain and suffering; cost of past and future medical treatment; permanent physical injury; permanent emotional/psychological harm; disfigurement; lost wages; loss of future income; diminished quality of life; and other damages.

Freddie Lorick, Chief of Public Safety, said all of his officers go through the same rigorous vetting process before hiring.

“We went through the same procedures with (Roseboro) as we do anyone else,” Lorick said.

Michael Roseboro was on duty and in his patrol car when he shot Takisha with his service weapon outside her home on 8th Street in Winnsboro, Oct. 28. He fled the scene, setting off a manhunt that lasted for nearly four days. The patrol car was found on the morning of Oct. 29, abandoned outside a Masonic Lodge on Highway 21 near Great Falls. He was spotted Nov. 1 at the home of his sister off Highway 21, a few miles from Camp Welfare, initiating a search by agents from the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED), assisted by Fairfield County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Keith Lewis. As the agents combed Camp Welfare, off Arrowhead Road near Great Falls, Lewis spotted Roseboro and attempted to convince him into surrender. SLED agents in the field were closing in when Roseboro drew his gun and shot himself in the chest. The wound was not fatal and Roseboro was later charged with attempted murder.

At the time of the shooting, Roseboro had been with the Department of Public Safety for three months, Lorick told The Voice last October. Roseboro had also served with the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office from 2001 to 2010, first as a deputy and finally as an investigator.

Roseboro, along with officer Dwayne Robinson, the Town of Winnsboro and the Department of Public Safety, were named as defendants in a 2001 lawsuit filed by Ronnie O. Armstrong. That suit, which was settled in 2003, claimed negligent use of unreasonable and excessive force, false arrest and confinement, assault, battery and outrage, as well as negligent hiring and negligent supervision and training.

Comments

  1. Terry D. Waters says

    Are you serious? You want someone to have sympathy for a man that shoots his wife in front of her child? And as much as say that you would have done it sooner? Wow.

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