A federal judge ruled a winter park officer who fatally shot an unarmed but belligerent man at his 2022 wedding.
Officers responded to a 911 call describing a man who was “anger” and “violent” and killed 39-year-old Daniel Knight, less than two minutes after he arrived at Nie’s wedding at Knight. During the conflict, Knight punched Officer Craig Campbell and got caught up in an argument with another officer, Kenton Turton, and then Turton shot the Knight seven times on February 19, 2022 at the Winter Park Event Center.
Melisa Cruz, the knight’s fiancé at the time of his death and the mother of his two young children, personally sued Tarton for the knight’s illegal death and the city’s police chief, accusing the Winter City of negligence. Tanton’s attorney Joshua Walker moved in August to request a claim against Tarton under his sovereign immunity.
However, US District Judge Roy B. Dalton Jr. issued a court decision in January that stated that, given the circumstances that all allegations from Cruz were true, the sovereign immunity would not apply, given the circumstances, given that Tanton’s actions were added to malicious intent. His ruling allows an illegal death claim against Tanton to move forward.
“To see the allegations against Tanton as true, appear at the wedding and shoot seven point blanks after just two minutes is overextensive enough to fully plead for the necessary maliciousness,” Dalton said.
The decision was based solely on allegations from Cruz’s complaints, not evidence, as the trial phase of the suit had not begun and the evidence had not been reviewed in court. When asked for comment, Walker told the Sentinel on Friday that his company would not comment on the pending lawsuit and instead address the issue when evidence was presented in court.
Although the sovereign immune defense failed at Tarton, Dalton decided that he could dismiss the complaint of illegal death against his second officer, Campbell, on those grounds. The judge found no malice on Campbell’s side, considering all he did was grabbing Knight’s sister’s arm and being punched.
Dalton also ruled that a claim in which Talton violated Knight’s Fourth Amendment could proceed after he found that the use of lethal force was objectively in the circumstances described by Cruz in the suit.
Spend your days with Hayes
Subscribe to our free Stephenly newsletter
Columnist Stephanie Hayes shares thoughts, feelings and funny business with you every Monday.
You’re all signed up!
Want more free weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.
Check out all options
“He was armed and drunk, so posed no serious danger to the two armed police. It wasn’t a flight risk given his family being surrounded by his family,” Dalton said.
Cruz’s lawyer, Paul Alloys, told the Sentinel on Friday that he welcomed the verdict, just over a week after Knight’s three years of death.
“Since February 19, 2022, the story of the City of Winter Park and the Winter Park Police Department has been about denounceing the victims and slandering Daniel’s character,” Alloys said. “Judge Dalton’s decision on January 28, 2025 on the denied defendant’s motion shows that there is another aspect of the story.
Police said they were trying to separate the drunken knight from another guest. Body camera footage showed the guest was his sister and appealed to the officers to not escalate the situation when Campbell tried to separate her from the Knight.
“Don’t take my (let) sister,” Knight said before punching the officer. The Winter Park Police Department said officers were unconscious from the strike where the Knight was delivered. Police say the Knight attacked the second officer and hit him on the ground. The officer then fired seven shots and slammed the knight over and over again. The Knight had no weapons and the police didn’t believe he had it.
Dalton said that Talton’s actions were excessive force and once again assumed that the allegations of the suit were true.
“With only a few minutes of arriving at the scene, without firing seven times in the stairway range, without first attempting to exclude, investigate or use forces that are less than fatal,” Dalton’s ruling stated, “are well beyond the faint boundary between excessively acceptable forces that officials knew were not violating the Constitution.”
Cruz is also suing the city of Winter Park with negligence and two claims by Winter Park Police Chief Timothy Volkerson in his ability as chief of the Knight’s unlawful death and his ability as chief of chief of the Knight to violate the Article 4 and the 14th Amendment. Winter Park spokesman Clarissa Howard told the Sentinel that the city could not comment on the lawsuit.
