Dupo police officer shot while on duty awarded over $3 million in damages
A Dupo police officer who was shot by a homicide suspect last year will receive damages from the shooter’s estate after a recent judge’s ruling that he is owed over $3 million for lost wages, pain and suffering.
Sgt. Patrick Carrier was responding to a call about a shooting the afternoon of Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023, when the suspect shot him in the shoulder with an AR-15 rifle.
Carrier, 49 at the time, had worked as a police officer for 12 years. He rolled out of the way of a second shot at point-blank range that grazed his neck, his wife told the Belleville News-Democrat in 2023.
Reginald “Reggie” Allen, 40, of Dupo, was accused of fatally shooting his coworker Darryl Mantz, 46, of Belleville, at a home in the 400 block of McBride Avenue in unincorporated St. Clair County near Dupo before injuring Carrier.
Allen then took the squad car and drove to his house in the 700 block of McBride Avenue. He killed himself in his garage.
Carrier’s attorney Matt Chapman filed a claim in Allen’s probate estate and filed a civil lawsuit in St. Clair County Circuit Court seeking compensation for Carrier’s injuries after learning about attempts to sell several properties Allen owned in the area, a news release from Chapman’s firm Becker, Schroader and Chapman, P.C. stated.
Carrier had multiple surgeries to stop internal bleeding and to reconstruct his upper arm. He missed a year of work.
According to the release, St. Clair County Associate Judge Christopher Kolker on July 17 ordered that Carrier be awarded:
$1 million for past pain and suffering.
$500,000 for future pain and suffering.
$1 million in emotional distress damages.
$1 million for loss of normal life.
$74,602.84 for lost wages.
“I’d like to thank Judge Kolker for his compassion and fairness,” Carrier stated in the release. “And I am very grateful to have Mr. Chapman in my corner fighting for me in this trial and in my other claims that are still ongoing.”
Attorney Hrant Norsigian Jr. is representing Allen’s son and executor of his estate, Kolbie Allen, in the lawsuit. Norsigian said Monday that the estate “will be responsible for paying the damages to the extent it has assets.”
“It’s limited to what’s in the estate. Right now, we’re trying to figure that out,” Norsigian said.
“Kolbie, as the representative of his father’s estate, just expresses his deepest sympathies for Mr. Carrier and his family,” he added. “It’s just a very unfortunate situation.”
This story was originally published August 10, 2024 at 6:01 PM.
