Pulse Survivors Are Suing Orlando, Police In Federal Lawsuit
Survivors of the Pulse shooting, which occurred in Orlando on June 12, 2016, have filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Orlando and the Orlando Police Department.
As ABC News reports, the papers were filed on June 7. Orlando police officer Adam Gruler was cited to have "...abandoned his post, thereby allowing [the] shooter to not only enter the club once to scout out the area and make sure nobody could stop him, but to then leave Pulse, retrieve his firearms, and return to execute his sinister plan to kill people."
The lawsuit names 30 unidentified Orlando police officers who are alleged to have either remained outside of the club while the shooting occurred or held witnesses against their will after they fled. The city of Orlando is also listed as an additional defendant.
"While people, unarmed, innocent were inside a club getting absolutely massacred by a crazed gunman there were a bunch of people...with guns, with the training and capability to take that shooter out. Instead of doing their job, they worried about themselves, they stayed outside, they worried only about their own safety, knowing that people were literally getting mowed down by the dozens just a few feet away," said Solomon Radner, attorney for the plaintiffs in the case.
Included among the 34 plaintiffs in the lawsuit are the estates of six of the victims in the shooting. Nine of the plaintiffs were detained by police as they escaped, according to Radner.
"As the people were running out of the club, thinking that they were safe, the police were there waiting for them, and the police, essentially, for all intents and purposes, arrested every single victim there and held them for 10 to 12 hours," he said.
“Nearly two years after the horrific act of hate inside the Pulse nightclub, our community continues to mourn the 49 lives taken and provide support for all those impacted. On the morning of June 12, 2016, federal, state and local law enforcement officers and first responders put themselves in harm’s way to save as many lives as possible,” the city of Orlando and the Orlando Police Department said in a joint statement.
“Our first responders are committed to the safety of this community, and they stand ready to protect and serve.”
The lawsuit is asking for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, as well as attorney's fees.