RELATIVES OF BELPRE MAN SHOT TO DEATH BY COPS SETTLE LAWSUIT FOR $450,000

When 57-year-old Delbert Bonar, a retired school janitor from Washington
County, was shot to death by sheriff's deputies during a drug raid at his
home in October 1998, it stirred outrage among citizens not only in his
area, but also in Athens County.

At the time, many Athens County residents were concerned about a
multi-county drug task force that some felt had been overzealous. So when
citizens from Bonar's home of Belpre packed a public meeting two months
after his death, the crowd contained some Athens Countians as well.

An investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Identification and Investigation has
cleared the sheriff's deputies of any wrongdoing in Bonar's death, and a
county grand jury that considered the case did not return an indictment. In
a settlement announced this week, however, Bonar's family has agreed to
accept $450,000 from the county in exchange for dismissing a federal
lawsuit filed in November 2001.

"That's some compensation for a life," noted Athens attorney Bill Safranek
drily. Safranek, who was among those who spoke out against Bonar's death at
the time, noted, "It's not a negligible settlement, is it? They might have
done something wrong."

Based on information from an informant, deputies with a search warrant
burst into Bonar's home on Oct. 15, 1998. They were seeking Bonar's son
Albert, whom they suspected of possessing stolen weapons and a large amount
of marijuana. Delbert, Albert and Albert's wife Carolyn were all at the
home during the raid.

Officers claimed Delbert Bonar grabbed a shotgun (later found to have been
unloaded) and ignored orders to drop it. Carolyn Bonar denied this, but
Sgt. William Wilson and Capt. Chris Forshey shot Delbert Bonar eight times,
killing him. A small amount of marijuana was found in the home.

In a press release about the settlement, Washington County Sheriff Robert
Schlicher extended sympathy to Bonar's family, but insisted that his
officers did not use excessive force.

"I accept that certain members of the family and friends of Delbert Bonar
believe in their hearts that the officers acted wrongfully on that night,"
Schlicher stated. "I respect their sincerity and their sorrow. However... I
believe that the officers involved in this incident acted in accordance
with their training, and in defense of their own lives and the lives of
their fellow officers... I believe that, had this case been presented to a
jury, the jury would agree."

The lawyer for Bonar's family, however, said that the size of the
settlement suggests that this is not a nuisance settlement, but an implicit
acknowledgement that the officers did something wrong. Attorney Harry G.
Deitzler said he's very confident that he could have convinced a jury of this.

"There's the fact that the officers used a SWAT team to conduct a search
for a baggie of marijuana," he said. "The fact that they did it at night.
The fact that they came into the residence without alerting the persons
inside to allow the entry. The fact that as they crashed in there, breaking
down the door, they held the first person down, and had automatic weapons
with laser pointers pointed at the other two, while they were yelling at them."

Deitzler said he believes the raid would never have been conducted the way
it was had the suspect been someone with more social status than Bonar.

"They wouldn't have done this to a citizen that they perceived as having a
little more stature," he alleged.

Attorney Cheri Hass, who represented Williams and Forshey, and attorney
Randall Lambert, who represented Washington County, both said they wanted
to go to trial, but the county's insurance pool insisted on settling. "(My
clients) were opposed to settling the case throughout, and frankly, so was
I," Hass said. "The sheriff's office did not sign off on it, nor did the
individual defendants."

Despite Deitzler's claim that the size of the payoff shows there are more
than economic considerations at work, Lambert said that in a case involving
a fatal police shooting, damages could potentially run much higher than
$450,000.

"If for some reason a jury were to go crazy, this could be a seven-figure
case," he said. He noted that the insurance group's coverage is capped at
$1 million, and anything over that is the county's responsibility.

Deitzler said legal expenses, which come out of the settlement, are around
$100,000. Bonar's three sons will split up the rest.