BECKLEY, W.Va. -- After midnight on July 4, 2006, Raleigh County sheriff deputies John Hajash and Greg Kade silently parked their squad cars at an intersection about two blocks away from the home of a man who had reportedly fired a gun at his own residence outside of Beckley earlier that evening.
Minutes later, Robert Webb lay dead in his driveway.
Kade had fired a spray of 00 buckshot that hit Webb in his head and brought him to the ground. Hajash, carrying a standard-issue pistol, fired three rounds at the man, including one while Webb was allegedly rolling on the ground, Hajash told detectives after the incident.
Monday in Beckley federal civil court, Kade and Hajash, along with Raleigh County Sheriff Danny Moore and Chief Deputy Steve Tanner, will stand trial on allegations that the two deputies failed to follow proper procedure the night Webb was killed.
Lawyers for Mary Webb, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of her deceased husband, expect the trial to last about two weeks.
The night Webb died, Kade was working off-duty security at the Country Inn and Suite on Harper Road outside of Beckley when Hajash, apparently on patrol, stopped by to talk, according to a statement Hajash gave sheriff department detectives following Webb's death.
"A shot ... or a call went out of a man shooting a handgun at his own residence, that's what the call was, the 911," Hajash told the detectives.
Hajash took the assignment after dispatchers noted that all of the other deputies were busy. Kade told Hajash that he could not let him go to the house alone, and logged off his security duty to provide backup.
Webb lived on Primrose Lane in the Cabell Heights subdivision. The two deputies were not familiar with the road, Hajash said, so they parked in the driveway of a home at the intersection of Cabell Heights Road and Old Eccles Road and exited their vehicles.
The only two weapons the men had available were Hajash's pistol and Kade's shotgun, Hajash said.
The neighborhood was quiet, Hajash said, but as the men neared Primrose Lane they began to hear music blaring from a truck in Webb's driveway. After calling dispatchers and confirming that they had reached the correct house, the deputies took cover under some hedges lining the property.
The men identified Webb, and watched as he walked back and forth from his garage to his truck. At one point, the men could see Webb through the passenger's side window of the vehicle as he stood at his open driver's side door. The officers could not see what he was doing with his hands, Hajash said.
With Kade leading point, the deputies walked toward Webb, Hajash said in his statement.
"Deputy Kade had his shotgun in the ready position, I had my pistol out," Hajash told the detectives. "We didn't know if the suspect was armed or not."
"Once we got there, Deputy Kade was where he could get full visual of the subject, and I was just a couple of feet behind him, like I said," Hajash said. "And [Kade] announced our presence, he said, 'Police, let's see your hands.'"
At that point, Webb turned and stuck out his hand as if he were holding something, Hajash said. He then raised his hands as if he were shouldering a rifle.
The deputies opened fire.
Kade fired a single shot from his 12-gauge shotgun. Hajash fired two shots while the man was still standing and a third while he rolling on the ground.
"... I could not see his hands, it was like he was going to shoot again." Hajash said. "As we were trained, I shot one more time until I seen his hands."
Kade ordered a cease-fire after he saw that Webb did not have a weapon in his hands. Hajash realized that Webb's firearm was near his feet. Webb appeared to have already died, Hajash said.
The deputies secured the scene and called for an ambulance. Mary Webb went outside at one point and, apparently seeing the body in the driveway, asked the deputies, "Who shot who?" The deputies told her to go back into the house, and waited for the ambulance to arrive.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Mary Webb by her lawyers Mike Olivio and Travis Griffith, paints a different picture.
The men never announced themselves as police before they opened fire, the suit states. Instead, Hajash and Kade rushed toward Webb "in order to close the distance between them," and fired their weapons after they had apparently startled the man into scrambling for his own.
The suit also claims that a neighbor made the original complaint that Webb was firing his gun at his house by calling dispatchers on a non-emergency line. The complaint was classified as a "non-emergency nuisance call," the suit states.
Webb's lawyers declined to comment. A phone call made to lawyers for the sheriff's department was not returned.
U.S. Circuit Court Judge Irene Berger will hear the case.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service