[symple_googlemap title=”100 block of South Glendale Avenue” location=”100 block of South Glendale Avenue” height=”300″ zoom=”15″]
Relatives of a man shot to death by West Covina police in March after stealing a police car and fleeing to Glendale sued the city Tuesday, alleging the killing was unjustified.
Henry and Meline Alachadzhyan, the brother and sister of Gevork Alachadzhyan, filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging wrongful death and battery in the perpetrator’s killing. They seek unspecified damages.
A representative for the city of West Covina did not immediately respond to an inquiry for comment.
Alachadzhyan died at the scene of the shooting at about 10:30 p.m. March 13 in the 100 block of South Glendale Avenue. West Covina police had pursued him before using a PIT maneuver to spin the car out in an action captured on video by news helicopters.
According to the lawsuit, Alachadzhyan was sitting inside the patrol car at the end of the chase when officers “negligently assessed the circumstances presented to them and violently confronted” the 45-year-old North Hollywood resident.
The officers, without warning, “proceeded to assault and batter” Alachadzhyan, ultimately “inflicting several gunshot wounds, which proved to be fatal,” according to the complaint.
Alachadzhyan was unarmed and did not pose a threat to the officers, the suit alleges.
–City News Service