A jury has returned a $126 million verdict in a federal lawsuit against the City of Moore and a former police officer who caused a traffic fatality in 2019.
Killed was Emily Alexis Gaines, an 18-year-old Moore High School senior.
Sgt. Kyle Lloyd resigned in 2021 from the Moore Police Department and pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter for the crash. Lloyd, now 41, was sentenced to nine years in prison and remains behind bars.
On Dec. 14, 2019, Lloyd was speeding at close to 100 mph in his personal car to take a key to his patrol car to another officer for the annual “Shop with a Cop” community event in Moore. He was off duty.
Gaines was driving to school to retake a college admission test. Their cars collided at an intersection on Sooner Road in Oklahoma City.
Gaines died at the scene. Her parents, Bryan and Dana Gaines, sued in 2020, at first in Cleveland County District Court.
The jury reached the $126 million verdict on Wednesday, April 1, to conclude a three-day trial in Oklahoma City federal court. An appeal is expected.
In their verdict, jurors agreed the City of Moore was liable for Lloyd’s negligence because he had been acting within the scope of his employment. Jurors awarded $36 million to the victim’s parents for their grief and loss of companionship.
The city’s attorneys had argued he was acting outside the scope of his employment, telling jurors “he was trained to not do these things and he did them anyway.”
Jurors further agreed Lloyd violated the victim’s civil rights. They awarded $90 million to the victim’s estate for her suffering, mental anguish and loss of life.
William J. Holloway Jr. United States Courthouse (Federal Courthouse), 200 NW 4th, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026.
Jurors did not consider whether the city was to blame for the civil rights violations. U.S. District Judge Timothy DeGuisti ruled in the city’s favor on that claim last year.
Jurors did not award punitive damages.
How much City of Moore actually has to pay a complicated issue
At issue post trial will be how much the City of Moore actually has to pay toward the verdict.
A state law known as the Government Tort Claims Act puts limits on a city’s exposure on negligence claims. However, cities typically indemnify their officers, a legal term meaning the city pays for at least some of the damages from an officer’s conduct.
“It’s a complicated thing,” the parents’ attorney, Chris Hammons, said after the verdict. “There’s going to be a fight, for sure, on how much and who pays.
“The main point is we got justice for Emily Gaines. That’s the biggest thing. That’s what the parents, Bryan and Dana wanted,” he said. “And the verdict was loud enough. It said a lot today.”
Moore City Hall exterior, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024.
What did accident investigation find
Lloyd was charged with first-degree manslaughter on Jan. 2, 2020, after an Oklahoma City police investigation.
Lloyd had been taking the key to the fellow officer because that officer had locked himself out of the patrol car. The officer was supposed to be taking a family to Target to do Christmas shopping for the “Shop with a Cop” event.
Oklahoma City police reported Lloyd was driving a 2014 Dodge Charger south on Sooner Road when he collided with a 2014 Nissan Sentra driven by the victim at 7:41 a.m. on Dec. 14, 2019.
The senior was turning left from Sooner Road to SE 134 Street.
A reconstruction of the collision determined Lloyd had increased his speed to 95 mph four seconds before the crash and applied his brakes only 1.2 seconds prior to impact, police reported. The speed limit was 50 mph.
In the civil case, Lloyd said he had been trying to get through the stoplight before it turned red. He called his actions irrational.
“That’s something that I beat myself up every single day,” he testified in a deposition in the civil case. “I made a bad call.”
Cleveland County District Judge Jeff Virgin chose his punishment in the criminal case. He will be on probation for nine years after he completes his prison sentence.
Lloyd had sought only probation.
At the sentencing, a paramedic testified he told Lloyd the driver had died. “His response was: ‘Great. That just made my day,'” the witness, Dale Carey, said.
In prison, Lloyd has faced attempts on his life after other inmates found out he is a former police officer, his civil attorney revealed in a court filing last year.
In one instance, an inmate poisoned his drinking water with fentanyl, the attorney, Michael Woodson, wrote. In another four members of the Aryan Brotherhood “rushed into his cell and attempted to beat him.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Jury awards $126M over cop-caused crash that killed Moore teenager
