3.1.22 – WYFF – SIMPSONVILLE, S.C.
Case settled for $650,000.
A lawsuit has been settled after an Upstate couple sued the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office and a deputy after a man was shot in his own home.
Simpsonville residents Dick and Cindy Tench filed a lawsuit in federal court in 2020, suing the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office and Kevin Azzara, the deputy that shot Dick Tench three times.
To read the complaint, click here.
The case settled for $650,000, according to the Tench’s attorney, Beattie Ashmore.
Tench told WYFF News 4 he was asleep inside his Eastcrest Drive home when Deputy Kevin Azzara responded to a medical panic alarm that had gone off inside the house, shortly before midnight.
When Tench went to see who was outside his home, Azzara fired through the home’s glass door panel, striking Tench in the chest, groin and back.
“(Azzara) was hiding behind a wall and shot me at a 45-degree angle,” Tench said. “That’s what happened. I’m laying on the ground with three bullet holes in me, dying.”
An investigation was launched by SLED and Azzara was later cleared of any wrongdoing.
The lawsuit says that Tench has a concealed weapons permit, and while he thought there was an intruder inside his home and he did have a gun in his hand, he never raised it or pointed it at Azzara.
“Dick Tench still has a bullet in his hip that reminds him of the shooting every day,” Ashmore, said. “Nothing has ever been done by Greenville County Sheriff’s Office. The complaint alleges that this deputy was terminated his rookie year in New Jersey and unsuccessfully sued to get his job back. We further allege that he was then hired by GCSO and prior to shooting Dick he shot and killed three dogs and a person. The GCSO then lied about what happened by saying Dick opened the door and pointed a gun at the deputy. Thankfully the body camera video proves that Dick was shot in his own home through his front door window. Dick and Cindy want accountability and better training for local law enforcement.”
An initial Facebook post by the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office stated that “Once the deputy (Azzara) arrived on scene, he went to the door and soon after was met by the homeowner who pulled the door open and pointed a handgun directly at the deputy. The deputy then fired his weapon, striking the subject (Tench) at least one time.”
However, the body camera video, released 45 days after the incident, contradicts the initial Facebook post. Tench is never seen opening the door. The Sheriff’s Office later retracted the statement.
According to the lawsuit, Azzara never identified himself as law enforcement prior and never activated the blue lights or siren on his vehicle while he was at the Tench’s house.
“I’ve never been a cop. I’ve never been around anybody who’s had to make those split-second decisions … but it was a bad one,” Dick’s wife, Cindy Tench, said. “Within a half-hour of kissing your spouse of nearly 40 years goodnight and the next thing you know he’s in the foyer bleeding to what we thought could have been his end– when you wake up to that, you have no clue what’s going on.”
The lawsuit states that Tench carrying a gun inside his home, while investigating a nocturnal disturbance on his own property, should have been apparent to Azzara at the time of the shooting.
New evidence revealed in the lawsuit, states that Azzara was terminated from his position at a police department in New Jersey before coming down to South Carolina. He was also involved in a separate deputy-involved shooting that killed a 50-year-old man.