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City not liable in officer's death

It took a jury just a few hours to decide that the police department was not negligent in the death of Tampa police officer Lois Marrero, who died while pursuing a bank robbery suspect.

By KEVIN GRAHAM
Published January 26, 2006

	[Times file photo]
	Tampa Police officer Lois Marrero died while pursuing a bank robbery suspect in 2001. A jury Thursday found that the police department was not negligent.

TAMPA - A jury found that the city of Tampa was not negligent in the death of police officer Lois Marrero, who was killed by a bank robber in 2001. Marrero's family had sued the city, seeking $1-million in damages. They said the police department failed on several safety fronts, including providing backup and establishing a police perimeter around the bank robbery suspect.

But a jury Thursday afternoon deliberated less than three hours before ruling that the city was not responsible. Marrero, who was 40 when she died, had worked for the Tampa Police Department for half her life. She was chasing bank robber Nestor DeJesus when he confronted her in an apartment parking lot and shot her to death. He later killed himself. His girlfriend and accomplice Paula Gutierrez, was sentenced to life in prison.

Marerro's family said she bled to death on city street doing her civic duty and was let down by police department. But the city contended she was a "trained killing machine" who should have exercised more caution.

[Last modified January 26, 2006, 15:10:03]