ORLANDO, Fla. — WFTV's Tim Barber sat down with the attorney who just filed a federal lawsuit against the Lake County Sheriff's Office and the deputy who shot an innocent man.
Andrew Scott was shot and killed in July at the Blueberry Hills Apartments in Leesburg.
Lake County deputies showed up at the wrong apartment in the middle of the night, looking for an attempted-murder suspect.
Deputies admitted they didn't identify themselves as deputies.
When Scott opened the door holding a gun, deputies instantly fired at him.
The sheriff's office said deputies should not have to announce themselves, but the family's attorney, Mark NeJame, said the federal lawsuit sets out to change that policy.
"There is a reason that there are knock-and-announce policies in many, many jurisdictions in many different departments -- to prevent situations like this from happening," said NeJame.
WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said he does not believe the sheriff's office will change its knock-and-announce policy because of the case.
"What they are going to argue is, under these circumstances, you knock and announce, it may well put your deputies in harm's way, you may end up with a dead deputy," said Sheaffer.
In September, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement report cleared Deputy Richard Sylvester, who killed Scott.
The suspect deputies were looking for was arrested, but the charges against him were dropped because of lack of evidence.
Scott's family's lawyer would not say how much money they were hoping to get in this lawsuit.
WFTV
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