Facts

On Feb. 14, 2016, at approximately 3:40 a.m., Eduardo Edwin Rodriguez was traveling in a vehicle his friends Diane Martinez, and her brother Peter Martinez. Following a traffic stop, an altercation ensued between Rodriguez and defendant Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriffs Sandy Galdamez and Andrew Alatorre that resulted in the shooting death of Rodriguez.

Plaintiffs were decedent's minor son and his parents, Maria Estela and Abel Rodriguez.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS: The decedent and his friends were parked at a gas station in Commerce. They observed a Sheriff's patrol car driving northbound on Fetterly. They had been traveling in a car being driven by Miguel Mendoza. Knowing that an abandoned vehicle was located in the lot to their west, they decided to leave. Diane, Peter, and decedent transferred to Diane's van, parked just a few feet away. Diane was driving with decedent in the front passenger seat, and Peter sitting in the back behind his sister. Diane pulled over. The deputies' asserted they were investigating a stripped, suspected stolen vehicle that was parked in the same parking lot of the van in which decedent was riding. The deputies had not seen anyone from the van at or near the stripped vehicle. No evidence was later found to connect them with the stripped vehicle. After the van stopped, Deputy Contreras, with gun drawn, went to the driver's side of the vehicle and made contact with Diane. Meanwhile, Deputy Galdamez approached the passenger side with her firearm drawn. Contreras told Galdamez to call for backup, which she did. Other deputies, including Deputy Alatorre, started arriving within a minute. Deputy Contreras took Diane out of the van, and passed her to Deputy Huerta who removed her to the front of another patrol vehicle just to the north.

Deputy Galdamez confronted decedent, who was in the right front passenger seat and ordered him out of the vehicle. He immediately protested, arguing he wasn't driving and hadn't done anything wrong. Galdamez and other deputies, including Alatorre, began removing decedent, grabbing at his arms as he verbally and physically protested his removal from the vehicle. As they did so, Deputy Contreras observed a gun in the decedent's waistband and alerted other deputies. Deputies Galdamez and Alatorre removed decedent, as they attempted to control him and he resisted their efforts. Plaintiffs claimed Deputy Pineda was standing on the passenger side of the van in the gutter, on the motor side of the opened door, and heard the gun fall to the ground, looked down, saw it and stepped on it, announcing aloud to the other deputies that he was stepping on the gun. At the time, Deputy Pineda was standing one to two feet from Galdamez and the other deputies. Deputy Mendoza also saw the gun and alerted Galdamez and Alatorre to the presence of the gun. Decedent exited the van while struggling to get away, and Galdamez and four or five deputies moved with him as a group from the sidewalk in front of the van to the middle of the street. The deputies continued trying to grab decedent as he continued trying to break away. The deputies grabbed, hit and punched him as decedent covered his head with his arms to fend off the blows.

Finally, Deputy Parga yelled out he had a Taser, but Galdamez, involved in the concerted effort to control decedent, screamed out "He has a gun, he's going to shoot us, shoot him." Galdamez and Alatorre fired their weapons at decedent from a few feet away, and decedent fell face down on the asphalt wounded. Galdamez fired four rounds while decedent was facing her slightly bent forward at the waist. After being shot, decedent was not moving, and appeared to have been severely wounded. Alatorre approached and began yelling at him, cursing him, ordering him to show his hands. Decedent was unable to respond due to being shot and severely injured. Plaintiffs claimed Alatorre suddenly cursed and fired at decedent, who remained face down, emptying his magazine and reloading with a fully loaded magazine. Deputies then went up to him with a ballistic shield, placing it on his torso while they searched around his waist for a weapon. They found none. The deputies admitted they did not disturb his body when they conducted the search. Photographs taken of the body contradict Alatorre's claim that decedent had his arms under his waist, as the photos undeniably show he had both hands stretched out above his head. Neither Alatorre or Galdamez, nor the other six deputies at the scene, ever saw decedent in possession of, displaying or pointing a gun at the deputies or others before, during or after they shot him.

Deputies Alatorre and Galdamez fired their service weapons at decedent, who was unarmed, 19 times, and hitting him 17 times. In one initial volley, Galdamez shot at decedent four times, face to face. Decedent fell on the pavement face first. Plaintiffs claimed Alatorre shot Rodriguez 14 times, 10 times in the back and 4 times to the back of the head, while cursing at Rodriguez, who lay on the ground on his face and stomach gravely wounded. The Coroner found that decedent was shot a total of 17 times, with 10 shots to decedent's upper right back, and four to the back of his head around the right ear, mostly in a right to left trajectory, and back to front. One shot struck decedent in the upper right chest, traveling downward into his abdomen, one struck his left upper arm, and one was a graze wound to the top of his right shoulder. Plaintiffs contended that neither Galdamez nor Alatorre ever saw a weapon in decedent's hands that would support a reasonable belief that he posed a threat of death or serious bodily injury to them or their fellow deputies. Plaintiffs' firearms expert, Dave Balash, retired from the Detroit Police Dept., opined that the shots to the back of the head and back occurred while decedent was proned out on the ground face down based on the fact that many of the bullets passed through the body and stopped because they struck the hard pavement. Plaintiffs asserted causes of action for excessive use of force in violation of the Fourth Amendment (42 USC 1983), violation of the Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process rights (42 USC 1983), violation of federal civil rights by public entity (42 USC 1983), violation of civil rights (Cal. Civ. Code 51.7. 52.1), battery, survival and wrongful death, and negligence.

DECEDENTS' CONTENTIONS: Deputy Sheriffs Alatorre and Galdamez were driving on patrol in an area known to them to be an area where vehicles were often stolen and/or abandoned. The sheriffs were notified that a stolen vehicle was nearby. The sheriffs were led by a Lo-Jack signal to the parking lot of a shopping center. There, the sheriffs found a vehicle that appeared to be dismantled, and noticed a female sitting in a minivan nearby. Later, the sheriffs observed the minivan again, this time with two more riders inside. After noticing the minivan had a malfunctioning license plate light, they pulled the vehicle over. The sheriffs called for backup. When a sheriff approached the person riding in the passenger seat, the decedent, and ordered him to show his hands, he refused. The sheriff opened the passenger side door. When the decedent exited the vehicle, another sheriff observed that he had a firearm in his waistband. Decedent resisted being restrained by the sheriffs. Defendants claimed decedent broke free from the sheriffs, reached into his waistband area, and ran into the middle of the road. He again refused orders to cooperate or show his hands. Sheriffs with Tasers were unable to deploy them because they did not have a clear shot of him. Sheriffs again attempted to restrain the decedent. Defendants claimed that while doing so, decedent grabbed the gun in the holster of one of the sheriffs. The sheriffs claimed they let the decedent go and he seemed to grab at the area of his waistband. Two sheriffs then fired their weapons at decedent, who fell onto his front. Defendants claimed decedent continued to resist being restrained, and his hands were under his body. The sheriffs claimed they noticed a black strap under the decedent's sweater. One of the sheriffs then shot the decedent three to four more times. A loaded gun was later recovered near the minivan's passenger door.

Result

The parties settled for $1,000,000. As part of its settlement recommendation, the county noted that it had already spent roughly $90,000 in attorney fees and costs to date.