2 Lawsuits Filed in Slaying by Deputy

Two wrongful-death suits filed against San Diego County in the fatal shooting by a reserve sheriff’s deputy of an unarmed Vista man will go to trial in October.

The Oct. 21 trial date was set during a settlement conference Monday before U.S. Magistrate Curtis McKee, said attorney Gerald Davee, who is representing Lena Bray, the widow of Jeffrey Bray.

Bray, a 21-year-old construction worker, was shot by Reserve Deputy John Wickham after he backed his pickup truck into a sheriff’s patrol car May 18. Authorities said Wickham and his partner, Deputy William Fewell, mistakenly believed they were following a stolen truck and that Bray was trying to ram them.

After the incident, both Bray’s widow and his parents, Joe and Brenda Bray of Conway, Ark., filed $6-million lawsuits against the county, alleging a violation of Bray’s civil rights.

San Diego County Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller released a report Friday concluding that the deputies are not criminally liable for Bray’s death because they sensed a threat of danger when Bray backed his truck into their patrol car.

Davee said the decision does not affect the civil suits, which allege that both the county and the deputies were negligent.