The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesdayy to pay $1.5 million to the family of a suspect fatally shot in Lynwood by a sheriff’s deputy responding to a report of an attempted kidnapping.
Kenneth Rivera III was shot on June 21, 2012, in the 11500 block of Atlantic Avenue following “a call of a possible kidnapping in progress,” according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Authorities said witnesses saw Rivera trying to force a 15-year-old girl into his vehicle. After she pulled away, Rivera drove to a local motel.
The first deputy to respond to the motel said Rivera was standing in front and put his right hand in his right front pocket and charged at her as she was trying to park her patrol car.
Fearing for her safety, she fired several rounds, according to a sheriff’s spokesman the day after the shooting.
Rivera’s two minor sons and his father all filed suit.
The family alleged that Rivera was not only unarmed but shirtless and “both of his arms were raised in a universal sign of surrender.”
Rivera walked up and acknowledged that he was the man deputies were looking for, according to the plaintiffs, when the deputy shot him without warning.
As Rivera lay bleeding, deputies handcuffed him rather than providing medical care, according to the lawsuit, which also accused deputies of destroying video footage of the shooting.
The board documents did not provide any details of the incident, citing only the risks of litigation in recommending settlement.
No corrective action plan or summary of internal investigations was included in the board documents.
—City News Service