Man convicted in supermarket checkout line dispute files suit against shopper he shot and store
A grocery aisle at a Fred Meyer supermarket in Oregon. Joshua Rainey Photography / Shutterstock.com
Convicted of assault and unlawful use of a firearm during a 2012 supermarket checkout line fight between two men who are now in their 60s, a suburban Portland resident is serving a six-year sentence in an Oregon prison.
But Jerry Thomas Harryman, 68, is also battling on with a dueling lawsuit against the man he shot in the leg during the dispute, the Oregonian reports.
William Young, the man Harryman shot, filed suit against Harryman in May. Young alleged that Harryman was negligent because he drew and fired a gun in a supermarket (a Fred Meyer store in Clackamas, a Portland suburb). Young’s suit seeks $110,000 in damages.
Recently, Harryman filed his own lawsuit, seeking $45,000 in damages and contending that Young and the supermarket were negligent, the newspaper reports. The suit contends Young assaulted Harryman and says “Fred Meyer Inc. caused plaintiff’s injuries by failing to ensure that customers in its store could shop there safely and without being assaulted by other customers.”
During last year’s criminal trial, Harryman claimed self-defense, the Oregonian reported at the time. Another Oregonian article published when Harryman was convicted provides additional details.
Legally licensed for a concealed carry, Harryman, who did not testify at trial, allegedly announced that he was armed, according to his suit. Harryman said he shot Young with his .380 semiautomatic pistol only after Young threw the first punch, as a verbal dispute between the two men erupted into a physical confrontation.
The verbal dispute reportedly was sparked when Young said Harryman was standing too close to his wife. Young’s wife was in a motorized scooter after surgery and had become flustered as she attempted to enter a personal identification number in the crowded supermarket.
“Back off man,” Young said, according to trial testimony. He and Harryman exchanged obscenities, Harryman reportedly flipped the bird and Young circled behind the checkout counter. The two men wrestled with each other before Harryman shot Young and store security subdued Harryman.
In his lawsuit, Harryman alleges that security personnel used excessive force and should have warned him before taking him down, the newspaper says.
An Oregonian article published last year after Harryman was sentenced says supporters, including one woman who witnessed the fight, said Young provoked the incident and pointed to claimed YouTube security video of the incident.
Defense attorney Donald Molnar said he thought the case would have been decided differently if it had been tried in a rural area of the state instead of Clackamas County.
Operating against Harryman, who cried after he was sentenced, was the fact that he had reportedly loaded his gun with hollow-point bullets and, a prosecutor said, had previously shot a man in the foot in 1982, although he was never prosecuted for doing so.
