Dead suspect involved in 1984 hospital shooting

and Andrea L. Buchanan ~ Southeast Missourian

When Winford S. Griffith shot Mary Boitnott in the head Friday morning at her Cape Girardeau mobile home, it wasn't the first time he had fired a gun at another person.

But when Griffith shot in 1984, it was as a Cape Girardeau reserve police officer, and in that instance the man -- 29-year-old Rickie Dean Burton -- died.

On Dec. 16, 1984, Griffith, an 11-year veteran of the police reserve, was at Southeast Missouri Hospital's emergency room in his duties as a reserve officer. Burton, a construction worker, had brought his girlfriend to the hospital suffering from an overdose of sleeping pills.

Burton had been living with Debbie Foeste and her 2-year-old son, Joshua Foeste.

After she was taken into the ER for treatment, Burton attempted to get in to see his girlfriend but was told he had to stay in the waiting room. Witnesses testified at a coroner's inquest a few weeks later that Burton had become enraged and threatened to hurt someone with a pocketknife.

After another officer tried to disarm Burton with a nightstick, Burton became even more angry, witnesses said, and continued to advance with the knife.

At that point, Griffith shot Burton twice in the chest.

Witnesses at the inquest were divided in their testimonies about whether Griffith had given his attacker fair warning, and Burton's friends and family questioned why Griffith had to shoot twice.

An internal investigation by then-Lt. Steve Strong cleared Griffith of any wrongdoing. Strong, now police chief, compiled a 146-page report with testimony from 34 individuals, including police, witnesses, medical and crime lab personnel along with friends and relatives of Burton.

On Friday, police spokesman Sgt. Rick Schmidt said the report remains off-limits to the public because it is part of personnel records. But Schmidt said that the police chief stands by his work and concurs with the self-defense ruling by the coroner's jury.

'Justified our feelings'

But Burton's brother, Jack Burton, still believes what Griffith did to his brother was murder.

"I feel like justice has been done, as far as my family's concerned, I really do," Jack Burton said Friday when told of Griffith's death. "It's been close to 20 years, but this here has justified our feelings that this man should never have been allowed to carry a gun in his hands."

The four-man, two-woman coroner's jury in 1984 disagreed. They ruled the shooting was "justified under the law."

Despite that, the family received a $35,000 settlement from the Imperial Casualty and Indemnity Co., which at the time of the shooting was providing insurance coverage for the city police reserve unit. The lawsuit originally had been for $4 million.

Griffith took a leave of absence during the lawsuit and never returned to duty, police said. He was finally removed from the reserve rolls about 10 years ago.

Burton's aunt, Janet Lowes, happened to be in Ed's Bar Friday morning to learn more about her wounded friend Boitnott, when Griffith came in. She said she there had "always been bad blood" since Griffith had shot her nephew.

"I had called him a no-good murderer to his face and he didn't like me," said Lowes, who was not injured in the shootings. "Everybody knows he shouldn't have shot at my nephew."