Shooting Victim Accepts Settlement

February 25, 1995 - Source: Jeri Rowe, Staff Writer

An out-of-court settlement involving a shooting at a Greensboro restaurant underscores the growing need for more security to protect patrons against random violence.

It's an 11-booth restaurant on High Point Road where you can pick up a plate of waffles and a side order of grits for less than $3 any time of the day, any day of the week.

It's the Waffle House Restaurant, a place of Formica tabletops and paper napkin dispensers whose nationwide chain carries the catchy slogan "America's Place To Eat."

But to Paul Walker, this particular Waffle House near Four Seasons Mall almost turned deadly.

On March 21, 1992, during a late-night breakfast with friends, Walker caught a bullet in the back from a handgun fired by a High Point teenager who wanted to settle a score with another restaurant patron.

But the teenager accidentally hit Walker, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

Earlier this month - nearly three years after the shooting - Walker accepted an undisclosed out-of-court settlement with Waffle House and the restaurant's franchisee, Freeway Foods.

In a one-sentence statement, Walker said he is pleased the lawsuit has been resolved. He also thanked Greensboro police and the "people of Greensboro" for their help, which included raising nearly $8,000 in eight months to cover his medical expenses.

Walker declined further comment.

He said through his attorney that he wants to move on and leave this painful memory behind.

"Paul is a strong fellow, and he has made the best of a bad situation and is moving on to his next chapter in life," said Walker's attorney, Jeff Peraldo.

Walker's settlement underscores an all-too-familiar issue facing restaurants nationwide.

Restaurants are moving to make their businesses safer and more secure for their employees and patrons because of the threat of lawsuits caused by what one restaurant security director called a "major, major problem."

That problem is violence.

"Society has no respect for human life anymore, and you've got patrons of restaurants or whatever going out in public and putting themselves in danger by being hurt when two people pull out guns and start shooting each other for whatever reason," said Ray Jackson, security director for Boddie-Noell Enterprises, a Rocky Mount-based company that operates 360 Hardee's restaurants in North Carolina and six other states.

"It's just a sign of the times, just violence."

Restaurants nationwide have taken a variety of tactics - everything from hiring unarmed security guards and erecting more outside lights to piping in classical music in the restaurant parking lot to help keep patrons calm.

The operators of the Waffle House off High Point Road had taken steps to curb violence.

The nine-stool restaurant had outside lights, an alarm system, a telephone linked to an emergency 911 line and a video camera when Walker was shot around 3 a.m. that morning, said Frank Freeman, president of Freeway Foods.

Still, those security measures didn't prevent Shaquawn Swepson from using his gun that night. After drinking 12 beers and smoking marijuana, Swepson fought with several patrons inside the restaurant.

In a court affidavit, Swepson said he fired the handgun six times because he wanted to "shoot up the place" - a tactic used when a gang has finished fighting. At the time, Swepson was a member of High Point's White Oak Posse Gang.

Swepson, now 19, sits in a Raleigh prison cell, after being sentenced in November 1992 to a 20-year term for felony assault. He will be eligible for parole in June.

"We felt like victims as well," Freeman said. "We felt badly for Paul.

"It was bad luck, but this individual (Swepson) could've gone to Perkins, Your House or somewhere else. We hate that it could've happened anywhere. It just happened on our property."

Walker's suit hinged upon whether or not Waffle House knew a violent act like the 1992 shooting was bound to happen.

Walker's suit claimed that Waffle House did know. The suit stated Waffle House was negligent because it didn't protect patrons enough in a high-crime area where shootings, stabbings, fights and disturbances were frequent.

Walker's suit pointed out that the Waffle House was the scene of 58 assaults, 62 disturbances and other crimes ranging from vandalism to liquor violations between 1988 and when Walker was shot.

Freeman said almost all of the assaults were verbal.

In his affidavit, Swepson said that an armed security guard would have prevented him from firing that .44-caliber handgun.

But attorneys representing Waffle House and Freeway Foods saw the situation differently.

They denied Waffle House was a dangerous place and called Swepson's crime an act of random violence that can never be foreseen.

The two attorneys representing the companies declined to comment on the case.

In North Carolina, courts have almost always sided with the business.

The reason: Businesses can't be held liable when someone is shot, stabbed or assaulted there because there is no way to foresee violent acts viewed as random unless the business has a history of frequent violence, according to North Carolina case law.

"It's a tough one," said Bob Adler, a UNC business professor specializing in business law. "What you often have is a victim with no real assets to cover medical expenses and lost wages and then you have a company like Hardee's with financial assets and there is a lot of sympathy for the victim in that case.

"But step back and you see that you're imposing an awful lot of responsibility on the restaurant," Adler said.

After Walker was shot, Freeman said High Point Road's Waffle House hired an unarmed security guard to remain at the restaurant from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

"Obviously, anything can happen any time, just the unpredictability," he said. "But what steps are enough?"

Walker gets around in his wheelchair. He has moved to Colorado where he lives with his wife and is considering going back to school to earn a computer science degree.

Walker said he knows he can't move back to his homeland of England, where there are few provisions for people who use wheelchairs: Few ramps, accessible homes or cars with automatic transmissions.

In an interview following Swepson's 1992 court hearing, Walker said: "England is not disabled-accessible like North Carolina, and it was extremely difficult for me to get around to perform the simplest task. The senseless act of a violent teenager has not only cost me my independence, it has also cost me my homeland and heritage."


Copyright 1995 Greensboro News & Record

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