West Covina authorizes $1.5 million settlement for fatal 2008 officer-involved shooting

WEST COVINA — City officials this week authorized a $1.5 million settlement to the family of a Cal State Los Angeles student who was shot 15 times and killed by two West Covina police officers in 2008.
In a closed session meeting Tuesday, the City Council voted 4-1 in favor of authorizing the settlement to end a lawsuit filed by the family of Omar Francisco Garcia, 24, of Arcadia. Garcia was shot to death in 2008 by West Covina officers Stephen Delgadillo and Enrique Macias after he allegedly attacked them with their own batons in a Target parking lot.
The offer will remain on the table for a 30-day period, and if the family does not accept it, the matter will remain on trial, City Attorney Arnold Alvarez-Glasman said.
“We’re still awaiting acceptance from the plaintiff in this case,” Alvarez-Glasman said. “There has been an offer that has been made and until an offer has been accepted, the case is still open.”
Attorney Greg Owen, who is representing Garcia’s mother, Irma Herrera, and sisters Michelle Celeste Garcia and Jazmin Ortega, declined to comment on the offer Friday. Owen filed a claim in May 2009 alleging reckless intent and excessive force by the Police Department and later filed a lawsuit.
West Covina Councilwoman Shelley Sanderson cast the sole vote against the settlement offer. She did not return calls for comment.
Police Chief Frank Wills expressed sympathy for Garcia’s family, but said his officers acted justly.
“The death of a human being is always a tragedy by any measure. But that being said, I stand behind the actions of the officers 100 percent,” Wills said. “(The shooting) was thoroughly investigated by the Sheriff’s Department and the District Attorney’s Office.”
District attorney’s investigators determined the shooting was “lawful self-defense,” he said.
The case stems from a Nov. 17, 2008 incident when officers Delgadillo and Macias responded to reports that Garcia was acting suspiciously behind a Target store at 2370 S. Azusa Ave., according to sheriff’s deputies.
Garcia told his mother he was going to the store to apply for a job. A manhunt from an unrelated car-to-car shooting earlier in the day had prompted police to swarm the area in search of the culprit.
When officers encountered Garcia in the store parking lot, a fight ensued and police said Garcia grabbed an officer’s baton and tried to use it on them.
An officer tried to use a Taser to disable Garcia, but the device malfunctioned, police said.
The officers then fired their guns, striking Garcia 15 times, officials said. Seven of the wounds were determined to be fatal.
Garcia also sustained blunt force trauma to his face, and the baton was found bloodied next to the body of Garcia, who was handcuffed and pronounced dead at the scene when the coroner arrived, according to the autopsy report.
The two involved officers are still employed by the city, Alvarez-Glasman said.
Although the city is proposing an offer, it is not an admission of guilt, he said.
“There’s no admission of fault by the city, department or officers,” he said. “In these types of cases, while the city feels strongly that the action of the officers involved was consistent with our police department policies, these are also cases that carry with it the potential for significant damages.”
If the case is settled, $1 million would come from the city’s risk management funds and its insurance carrier would cover the rest. The settlement could be a benefit to the city, Alvarez-Glasman said.
“The potential damages could be significant and greater than that,” he said. “Like any lawsuit, you can defend it but will never know what the jury will do.”
– By Juliette Funes and Brian Day, Staff Writers

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3 thoughts on “West Covina authorizes $1.5 million settlement for fatal 2008 officer-involved shooting

  1. Blunt force trauma to the face? That sounds like something that just happened in Fullerton. Can someone please provide me with the police training manual that tells cops it’s okay to beat somebody’s face in? How about the one where it’s okay to shoot them fifteen times? If anyone out there can convince that family not to settle…

  2. I will tell you Lauren, there is no law, no training, nor anything else that says a police officer can not strike a suspect in the face!!! If a suspect wants to fight us, he has no rules to abide by, and can, and almost always does, will use whatever amount of force he wants against us!! We have to use ‘reasonable force’, and yes, striking someone in the face who is wielding your baton IS reasonable.
    As for the number of shots: There is no training on how many times to shoot. We shoot until that person is no longer a deadly threat. It only takes about 3-4 seconds for 2 officers to fire 15 shots. By the time our brain perceives the threat is over, we will most likely fire 2-4 more shots. There is NO training to override the human mind! So: Until you wear our shoes and are willing to fight a guy who is crazy, and wild enough, to take your baton away, try to attack you with it, and then avoids being tased, try not to judge!

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