A state Industrial Commission official has found that a Cumberland County man severely beaten by a state trooper 23 years ago is entitled to seek damages of up to $100,000.

Richard Wayne Barfield, 50, suffered major head injuries from the beating by Trooper Geary Blackwood, 56, outside a convenience store in Fayetteville in 1985, Dan Kane reports. Surgeons had to remove a piece of his skull and patch his head together with cranial plaster and a plate.

Blackwood said he did nothing wrong and was defending himself, but the patrol let him go shortly after the arrest and said he had acted outside of the scope of his authority.

The state used that argument to deny having to pay Barfield compensation, but Deputy Industrial Commissioner Wanda Taylor found that a state law passed three years ago no longer allows the patrol to assert that defense.

Her ruling gives the state three options: settle the case, proceed to a hearing on damages or appeal her decision to the full commission. The maximum amount Barfield could receive is $100,000, which was the limit under the law at the time of the beating.

Barfield's attorney, J. Michael Gay of Hillsborough, praised the decision. The attorney for the state, Special Deputy Attorney General William Borden, could not be reached.

Richard Wayne Barfield's 23-year-long battle for compensation from the state after he was badly beaten by a state trooper during a traffic stop will go on for at least another month.

Barfield's attorney, J. Michael Gay of Hillsborough, said today that Deputy Commissioner Wanda Taylor of the N.C. Industrial Commission heard preliminary arguments in the case this morning, then gave Gay and the state Attorney General's office 30 days to submit legal briefs, reports Dan Kane.

Sometime after that, Taylor will decide whether to award up to $100,000 in compensatory damages to Barfield, dismiss the case as the state wants, or call for an evidentiary hearing.

Read more after the jump.

   Comments (0)