Sheriff’s Dept. faces wrongful-death suit – Arizona Daily Star
2013-01-16T00:00:00Z 2013-01-16T08:34:54Z Sheriff’s Dept. faces wrongful-death suitKim Smith Arizona Daily Star Arizona Daily Star
Edith “Lynn” Marques remembers deputies passing her and her husband twice on April 1, 2011, with their lights and sirens on. She has no recollection of the crash moments later that took her husband’s life.
Marques took the stand Tuesday in Pima County Superior Court Judge Carmine Cornelio’s courtroom. She and her 11 children filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Pima County Sheriff’s Department as a result of the death of her husband, Joseph. Tuesday was the first day of the trial.
Marques’ attorney, James Abraham, told jurors during opening statements that Joseph Marques died because deputies violated a department policy that the safety of the public must take a priority over the arrest of a suspect.
In this case, Abraham said, deputies repeatedly refused to stop chasing a shoplifter – a shoplifter who eventually ran a red light, hitting the Marques vehicle and killing Joseph, 73.
Deputy Pima County Attorney Nancy Davis told jurors the deputies were not pursuing Patrick Gutierrez that afternoon; they were following a robbery suspect.
Eventually, Gutierrez stopped at a stop sign, Davis said.
Unfortunately, there was no way Lt. Scott Martin, who was with Gutierrez at the stop sign, could have predicted Gutierrez was going to take off and run a red light eight seconds later – when he turned on his lights, Davis said.
“The only person responsible (for Marques’ death) is the person who ran the red light, Patrick Gutierrez,” Davis told jurors.
Lynn Marques testified she and Joseph and their youngest child, Andrew, 9, were returning from a weeklong trip to San Diego.
Joseph always took the Ina Road exit to [...]