FATHER SUES DEA, FBI OVER FATAL SHOOTING OF JACKSONVILLE SON

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A man whose son was accidentally shot to death
by a federal drug agent has sued the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration and the FBI for negligence.

Curt Ferryman, 24, was fatally shot in August 2000 as he sat in his
car with a DEA informant north of Jacksonville.

Christopher Sean Martin, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent,
accidentally fired his 9mm pistol as Ferryman was sitting in the front
seat of a car after making a sale to an undercover agent.

Martin did not face criminal charges in the shooting, after State
Attorney Harry Shorstein ruled the death as excusable homicide.

"Martin negligently and improperly handled and operated his service
weapon," said Curtis Fallgatter, the attorney for Robert Ferryman,
Curt Ferryman's father. "The DEA negligently trained and supervised
Martin and both the FBI and DEA planned and conducted the sting
operation in an unsafe and improper manner."

The four-count civil suit filed Friday the DEA and FBI of negligence
and the DEA of negligent training and supervision. It seeks
unspecified damages.

Shorstein was also critical of the drug bust at the time, saying:
"Almost everything about this operation ... was poorly planned and
poorly executed, causing the unnecessary death of a man, albeit one
committing a nonviolent marijuana drug possession felony."

DEA spokesman Will Glaspy said Saturday he couldn't comment on pending
litigation. The FBI didn't immediately return a message Saturday.