Thread: Suit Filed Against City, Bratton in Pena Case

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?secti ... id=3719104

Suit Filed Against City, Bratton in Pena Case

LOS ANGELES - The mother of a toddler who was killed, along with her father, in a July 10 shootout filed a wrongful death and negligence suit today against Chief William Bratton, the city and numerous LAPD officers.

The LAPD has maintained that 19-month-old Suzie Pena was accidentally shot by officers when her father used her as a "human shield" during the 2 1/2- hour standoff and shootout with police.
A representative for the department said the LAPD had no comment on the Los Angeles Superior Court suit brought on behalf of Lorena Lopez.

She alleges that the officers who were sent to Jose Raul Pena's used-car business in Watts "negligently and recklessly did not use proper and established police tactics designed to preserve life and safely resolve the problem at hand."

Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa have named a Board of Inquiry to investigate the shooting death of the toddler and her 34-year-old father, who shot at police before the SWAT team fired back, killing him and his daughter.

One of the 11 officers involved in the shootout was wounded in the shoulder.

An autopsy showed that Pena had drugs and alcohol in his system, and trace amounts of drugs were also found in the toddler's body.

The mother contends she told officers that Pena "was depressed and needed psychological help" and pleaded on her knees with officers to let her go inside the car lot to retrieve her daughter, to no avail.

Lopez also claims police failed to give negotiators sufficient time to defuse the situation before shooting.

According to her suit, the "negligent, reckless and incompetent acts in question include massive indiscriminate shooting into the small office enclosure housing Suzie Pena; the confrontational SWAT tactics; the failure to continue negotiations; the rushed entry into the small office; and the use of the flash-bang grenade in such close quarters."

The suit filed by attorney Luis Carillo, a vocal LAPD critic, further alleges that department officials were warned in September and November of last year that the SWAT unit was "reckless and dangerous to the public."

The Pena shooting was one of several earlier this year that placed the department under intense scrutiny, drew criticism from community activists and generated calls for changes in police procedure.

Lopez is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and separate punitive damages against Bratton "in his individual capacity."

Past articles.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-6557-suzie.html+pena

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-6654-suzie.html+pena

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-7685-suzie.html+pena