A Colorado sheriff’s office has drawn outrage after it awarded a deputy a Purple Heart for injuries sustained last year during a fatal encounter with a man at a middle school while students were being picked up.
Deputy Charles McWhorter received the commendation from the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office only four days before a federal wrongful death lawsuit was filed against him, other deupties and the county.
The award was given during an annual awards’ banquet Feb. 17, according to a post about the ceremony on the sheriff’s Facebook page.
A spokesperson with the sheriff’s office confirmed to NBC News over email on Monday that “Deputy McWhorter received the Purple Heart for injuries he sustained in the Feb. 22, 2022, incident.”
The spokesperson said neither McWhorter nor anyone with the office would provide additional comment because of the pending lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for Colorado. Attempts to reach McWhorter outside of the sheriff’s office were unsuccessful Monday.
According to the suit, McWhorter fatally shot Richard Ward, 32, last February when he was with his mother and her boyfriend to pick up his younger brother from Liberty Point International Middle School.
Pueblo County sheriff’s deputies approached Ward after they received a report that he had been opening doors of nearby vehicles in the pickup waiting area, officials have said.
Ward stepped out of his mother’s SUV for a “brief walk,” mistook another white SUV for hers and got in the wrong vehicle, the lawsuit says. He apologized to the woman who was driving after he realized his mistake and returned to his mother’s vehicle, the suit says.
Minutes later, according to the suit, McWhorter confronted Ward, who was shot three times during a physical struggle. Ward was pronounced dead at the scene, the lawsuit says.
Attorney Darold Killmer, who represents the Ward family in the lawsuit, said Monday the Purple Heart being given to McWhorter is an “outrage” and was a…
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