Fatal shooting from Douglas Zerby occurred on December 12, 2010 in Long Beach, California. Zerby was shot by two Long Beach Police Department officers while playing with a garden hose nozzle. They claimed that they mistook the hose nozzle for a gun and fired at Zerby, killed him, and made no warning or oral command. It was later discovered through an audio recording of a radio attendant that the house phone rang a surprise to the officer who caused him to shoot. Another officer fired when the first gunman did it, inflicting it on a "contagious fire" proving that the officers were not properly trained.
Los Angeles County prosecutors cleared two shooters. The Zerby family filed a lawsuit against the city of Long Beach and was awarded $ 6.5 million after a jury found the Long Beach Police Department responsible for Zerby's death, acting with hate and carelessness, and violating the rights of the Fourth Amendment of Zerby. The officers also had to pay $ 5,000 each for the Zerby family.
Video Shooting of Douglas Zerby
Background
Douglas Marthew Zerby (October 4, 1975 - December 12, 2010) is 35 years old, and has an eight-year-old son.
Both officers, Jeffrey Shurtleff and Victor Ortiz, each have six years and ten years of law enforcement experience.
Maps Shooting of Douglas Zerby
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At 4:45 pm, LBPD officers Jeffrey Shurtleff and Victor Ortiz shot Zerby while he was sitting on the steps of an apartment complex in the Belmont Shores area playing with a hose nozzle. He was in the apartment to visit his friend. A neighbor called the police reported that a man had a "six shooter" gun in the backyard and waved it. Zerby was drunk with a blood alcohol content of 0.42 percent and reportedly pointed to nozzles at officers who arrived at the scene, according to the authorities. Both officers admitted mistaking the device as a weapon and fired a shot without warning. The officers fired rifles and pistols, hitting Zerby 12 times. Zerby suffered four fatal wounds. He was beaten at the bottom of his legs and chest.
Ortiz was 38 feet from Zerby when he fired his shotgun, and Shurtleff was 23 feet off when he fired his gun. A third officer present at the shooting site, 56 feet away with a telescopic rifle but not firing. A fourth officer at the scene was armed with an assault rifle and said that he saw Zerby aiming firearms at him, but not at Ortiz. He is separated by Zerby from the gate, and says in his testimony that he did not shoot because he did not want to hit the fence.
Immediately before the shooting, the officers requested additional helicopters, police helicopters, and the Long Beach Mental Health Evaluation Team of the Long Beach Police Department to assist in the situation, but stated that when Zerby stretched out his hands and aimed the nozzle at them they heard the phone ring and were fired. The forensic report would prove their claim to be false, once it was discovered that the water nozzle was found under his thigh, a place that would never end if he widened it out like a pistol.
Legal process
Criminal investigation
The shooting was investigated by the Long Beach Police Department, the Los Angeles County District Attorney Integrity Division, and the Los Angeles County coroner's office. In November 2011, the Los Angeles district prosecutor's office refused to file charges against Ortiz and Shurtleff in the shooting, arguing that they were acting in self-defense. The decision led to protests in Long Beach. According to prosecutors, the position of Zerby's arms is consistent with someone pointing objects at officers.
Police Chief Jim McDonnell told a news conference that officials had not given warnings or verbal commands before firing at Zerby.
Civil lawsuit
Douglas Zerby's family and their lawyers, Dale Galipo and Bryan Claypool, filed suit against the towns of Long Beach and Victor Ortiz and Jeffrey Shurtleff. They demanded $ 21.5 million in damages.
Roger Clark, a former lieutenant from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, testified that officers did not have to shoot Zerby and had no reason not to give him a chance to drop the nozzle before using lethal force. Clark says that the officers have a good cover of brick walls and fireplaces, and that's because Zerby did not commit a crime, that it would make sense for officers to announce their presence.
A lawyer for the city argued that Ortiz and Shurtleff fired because they believed that Zerby would shoot them. A lawyer for Zerby's father said that Shurtleff accidentally dumped his gun and fired a shot, causing Ortiz to believe Zerby fired a shot and then fired his gun.
The jury awarded the $ 6,5 million Zerby family in the form of mischief damage. $ 2 million of the award was given to Zerby's father, Mark, while the remaining $ 4.5 million will be shared by Zerby's mother, Pamela Amici, and her son, River.
The verdict was affirmed on appeal.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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