Jury Awards $51.8 Million Over San Bernardino Deputies' Fatal Shooting of Mentally Ill Man: Family's Lawyers Call It California's Largest Police-Shooting Verdict
A federal jury this week awarded $51.8 million to the mother of Antonio Garza Jr., who was shot and killed by San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies in 2023 after a chase from his Yucca Valley home, in San Bernardino County, California, to Palm Springs. The family's attorneys say it is the largest jury verdict in a police shooting case in California history. (GSM, via the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times)
After a seven-day civil trial, the jury unanimously found the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department liable for the actions of Deputies Nicholas Kridner and Bill Abernathy, concluding that they used excessive force, violated Garza's civil rights and were responsible for his wrongful death. The award to his mother includes $8 million for emotional pain and suffering, $10 million for loss of love, $8 million for future loss of enjoyment, $2 million for mental pain, $6 million for physical pain, $2.8 million in lost earnings and $5 million for the civil rights violations. The jury also found the two deputies acted with reckless disregard and added $10 million in punitive damages, for a total of $51.8 million.
The shooting happened on February 5, 2023. Garza, 35, was chased from his Yucca Valley home, where he had started a fire, in a pursuit lasting about 35 minutes that ended along Interstate 10 in Palm Springs, where he was shot more than a dozen times. An independent autopsy presented to jurors said deputies fired 14 shots at Garza and seven more after he fell to the ground; he was hit twice in the back and twice while on the ground. The deputies involved were not wearing body cameras.
Video recorded by a motorist captured part of the encounter: four deputies ran after Garza along the freeway as he faced them several times holding an object. At one point Kridner ordered him to show his hands and get on the ground, but Garza ran off holding a golf club, then turned and walked toward the deputies. He was hit twice with less-lethal bean bag rounds but did not surrender. Kridner and Abernathy said Garza had raised the golf club above his head and swung it toward Kridner when they opened fire.
County lawyers noted at trial that an autopsy found a large quantity of methamphetamine in Garza's body. Jurors also heard about his previous run-ins with law enforcement and his family's struggles to get him mental health help from the county. "No one would step in to help our brother," a family member, Garza-Littman, said. "Instead of helping, they only made things worse." The family's attorney, Rebecca Brown, said at a news conference on Friday that the shooting was "the execution of a mentally ill man." The Sheriff's Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the Los Angeles Times reported. The family is also calling on California's attorney general to file criminal charges against the deputies.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于加州 San Bernardino 的圣贝纳迪诺县政府中心（San Bernardino County Government Center）；本案被判承担赔偿责任的县警长办公室同属该县政府。照片：Xnatedawgx，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The San Bernardino County Government Center in San Bernardino, California; the county Sheriff's Department held liable in this case is part of the same county government. Photo: Xnatedawgx, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
