news-record.com

RALEIGH (AP) - The family of an unarmed teenager fatally shot when sheriff's deputies raided his home contend in a lawsuit that the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and its police department are responsible for giving deputies bad information.

The lawsuit filed Friday with the state Industrial Commission blames the university and its police department for a "sloppy, hasty and overzealous" investigation.

Peyton Strickland, 18, of Durham was fatally shot through the door of his Wilmington rental home Dec. 1, 2006. New Hanover County Sheriff's Deputy Christopher Long has said he mistook the sound of a battering ram for gunshots being fired from inside the home.

Strickland and two friends were suspected of beating a UNC-W student and robbing him of two PlayStation 3s.

The search warrant application filed by UNC-W police is riddled with errors which wrongly led deputies to fear for their lives during the raid, lawyers for the Strickland family said.

Police were unnerved when they found pictures of Strickland's friends on the Internet, posing with guns.

The university police sought help from the New Hanover Sheriff's SWAT team to help search Strickland's home at night, saying the visit would be "extraordinarily dangerous."

"This lawsuit is important for every family that has a student attending college in Wilmington," said Kathy Strickland, Peyton's mother.

A university spokeswoman told The (Raleigh) News & Observer that officials had not yet seen the lawsuit and could not comment.

The family settled out of court with the New Hanover county and its sheriff's office in February for $2.45 million and started a charitable foundation in Peyton's name.

Strickland said any damages collected in this lawsuit would be added to the fund.