The household of an 18-year-old California lady who was fatally shot after a college security officer opened fireplace on a automotive she was using in has reached a multimillion greenback settlement with the college district concerned.
Manuela “Mona” Rodriguez’s household was awarded $13 million from the Lengthy Seashore Unified Faculty District in connection together with her loss of life in September 2021, attorneys for the household introduced Tuesday.
“That is step considered one of accountability,” Rodriguez’s brother, Omar Rodriguez, mentioned at a information convention aired by NBC Los Angeles Tuesday. “I’m actually hoping that we get true justice. You already know, my sister was robbed of that. We have been robbed of our sister.”
Rodriguez, who was the mom to a then-5-month-old child, was taken off life help in October 2021, greater than every week after officers mentioned Lengthy Seashore Unified Faculty District security Officer Eddie F. Gonzalez had fired at a automotive she was in.
Gonzalez had been driving a college security automobile close to Millikan Excessive Faculty when he stumbled on a struggle between Rodriguez and an unidentified 15-year-old woman, Lengthy Seashore police beforehand mentioned.
Police mentioned Rodriguez had recognized the woman and had allegedly began the struggle. When Gonzalez intervened, Rodriguez received right into a automobile occupied by two others whom authorities mentioned have been “additionally concerned within the assault.”
Video confirmed the college useful resource officer making an attempt to get the youngsters to cease, however because the automobile sped off, Gonzalez drew his weapon and fired from behind the automotive.
Rodriguez was hit and was taken to Lengthy Seashore Medical Heart in important situation earlier than being taken off life help days later.
Gonzalez was fired shortly after the capturing and he was subsequently arrested and charged with homicide. He pleaded not responsible in December 2021 and continues to be awaiting trial.
Gonzalez’s legal professional had beforehand argued that the college security officer had feared for his life on the time of the capturing and acted in self-defense, NBC Los Angeles reported.
“This was a murder,” Arnoldo Casillas, a lawyer for Rodriguez’s household, mentioned at Tuesday’s information convention. “Anybody who sees the video and appears at it truthfully sees it for what it’s. He was not in peril. The automotive had passed by and there was no cause to shoot.”
Rodriguez’s mom, Manuela Sahagun, sued Gonzalez and the Lengthy Seashore Unified Faculty District in December 2021 alleging wrongful loss of life, extreme pressure, negligence and civil rights violations, NBC Los Angeles reported.
In an announcement, the Lengthy Seashore Unified Faculty District instructed the outlet “settlements like these embody language that there isn’t any admission of legal responsibility on the district’s half. Nonetheless, we once more share our sincerest condolences with everybody who was impacted by this horrible occasion.” The college district didn’t instantly reply to an in a single day request for remark from NBC Information.
Beforehand, the district had mentioned that its coverage outlines a number of situations through which a college useful resource officer mustn’t fireplace his weapon, together with if an individual is fleeing or in a shifting automobile “until circumstances clearly warrant using a firearm as a closing technique of protection.”
Superintendent Jill A. Baker had mentioned Gonzalez had violated the coverage “and didn’t meet our expectations,” saying that the choice to terminate his employment was “warranted, justified, and fairly frankly, the precise factor to do.”
