PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — A Palm Beach County jury awarded a former Lake Worth police officer about $7.1 million after litigation with the city had spanned for more than two decades.
"My duty was to protect the people, and I would do it again if I could. That’s not going to happen, but having to fight your employer for your rights, I never felt like I retired," Joseph Viera, who served with Lake Worth police, told WPBF 25 News.
Viera was responding to an emergency call back in 2001 when his life turned upside down.
"There was ... a woman that was in distress. She was being attacked by two men wielding a knife. And on his way to the call, he got T-boned by a car, which resulted in career-ending injuries," said Daniel Lustig, an attorney at Pike & Lustig.
