Jury awards whopping $21 million to household of pregnant teenager killed by Fremont law enforcement

SAN JOSE – In a landmark verdict that’s one particular of the greatest of its kind nationwide, a federal jury awarded $21 million in damages to the household of 16-calendar year-old Elena Mondragon, who was fatally shot by Fremont police above five many years in the past.

The seven-member jury located Friday night time that 3 Fremont officers acted negligently through a covert procedure in Hayward that ended with officers firing rifles into a relocating BMW, killing Mondragon, who was a passenger in the auto. Lawyers for the city argued to jurors that the driver, not law enforcement, was responsible for her death.

The metropolis of Fremont will be on the hook for about $10.2 million of that amount of money, which would likely be the premier single payout resulting from a lawsuit versus the city’s law enforcement office in its heritage. The gentleman who was allegedly driving the BMW was requested to pay out the remaining amount.

“We hope a verdict like this sends the concept that police departments need to humble them selves in the facial area of neighborhood demands that they do better,” explained Adante Pointer, an lawyer for Mondragon’s mom.

It is one of the biggest payouts at any time for a law enforcement killing, larger than numerous identical incidents that have produced countrywide headlines. The George Floyd murder in Minneapolis led to a $27 million lawsuit settlement, though the loved ones of Breonna Taylor settled a suit with Louisville, Kentucky, law enforcement for $12 million, for instance. Previous December, a jury in Austin awarded $67 million to the household of a gentleman killed by law enforcement, and three months in the past, a San Diego jury returned an $85 million verdict in a wrongful death fit alleging law enforcement conquer and tased a guy to demise.

In the Bay Place, current lawsuit settlements have bundled figures as significant as $7.3 million for officers in Pittsburg who kneeled on best of a male and did not see that he was dying for numerous minutes, as well as a put together $9.4 million settlements for the households of two men killed by the very same Contra Costa Sheriff’s deputy inside of a a few-year span.

Lawsuits above law enforcement killings hardly ever go to trial in the Bay Location. That is a single of the factors that manufactured Mondragon’s case one of a kind.

Mondragon, an Antioch resident, was a person of four people today inside of a car or truck driven by 19-calendar year-aged Rico Tiger, who authorities explained was responsible for several violent armed robberies in Fremont and all around the Bay Spot. The Southern Alameda County Main Crimes Process Drive, composed of users of multiple legislation enforcement organizations, have been monitoring a stolen BMW Tiger was driving to the Metropolis Look at Condominium intricate in Hayward on March 14, 2017.

Tiger was charged with murdering Mondragon underneath the state’s provocative act doctrine, which retains individuals liable when somebody else makes use of deadly self-protection. The situation is nevertheless pending.

Fremont Sgt. Jeremy Miskella and Officers Ghailan Chahouati and Joel Hernandez were being aspect of the activity force, which planned to block Tiger’s car into the parking lot in the advanced with an undercover law enforcement minivan and arrest him.

Immediately after Tiger was seen by officers returning to the car with Mondragon and two other folks, officers had been delayed a bit by a resident pulling into the whole lot. Tiger started to pull out of a parking area, when Chahouati pulled the van “nose to nose” with the bumper of the BMW, briefly “chirped” the siren, and Hernandez activated law enforcement lights in the visor, the officers’ attorney Patrick Moriarty claimed throughout the demo.

Sgt. Jeremy Miskella was a bit at the rear of the van driving a Honda Pilot. The officers then got out of the automobiles, Miskella and Hernandez aimed rifles at the BMW, and the officers gave commands to Tiger, Moriarty reported.

Tiger backed up the BMW, revved its engine then tried out to flee by driving forward and squeezing the BMW by a small house between the law enforcement vehicles and a carport with autos parked in it.

Hernandez, who mentioned he assumed Chahouati had been killed, fired two shots from a rifle at the vehicle as it drove by, and Miskella fired five pictures from a rifle.

1 of Miskella’s pictures hit Mondragon, who was in the entrance passenger seat of the BMW, cutting by means of her upper body and lodging in her spine. She died from her accidents afterwards that night in the course of crisis surgical treatment, in accordance to healthcare documents. It was later on verified by healthcare officials that Mondragon was pregnant at the time of her dying.

In the course of the demo, lawyers Moriarty and John Robinson said Mondragon’s dying was a tragedy, but not a little something the officers ended up dependable for. They emphasized the recklessness of Tiger, who remains in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin awaiting trial. To confirm the murder, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office is arguing a authorized concept that states the officers utilised lawful force mainly because of Tiger’s actions, creating him criminally liable for her dying. He has pleaded not guilty.

Just one of the critical points of competition in the case was wherever Miskella was standing when he fired the remaining two rounds, just one of which was probable the a person that proved deadly for Mondragon. The family’s lawyers argued he was out of harm’s way, even though the officers’ lawyers claimed he was nearly hit by the BMW and feared for his life.

The jury in the long run made the decision, following about two days of deliberation, that Tiger was 51% liable for Mondragon’s death, when Miskella was 25% dependable. Chahouati and Hernandez had been the two 12% accountable, the jury resolved, according to lawyers for Mondragon’s spouse and children and a Fremont town spokesperson.

“This verdict is a monument to justice,” Pointer explained in an job interview Friday night time.

“I think this verdict says that our community is unwilling to give officers a free of charge move to behave recklessly, and then in the aftermath, acquire a position that they can't be held accountable for their reckless conduct,” Pointer claimed.

The city can nevertheless charm the verdict.

Fremont spokesperson Geneva Bosques declined to remark on the verdict Friday night time, but reported the town is reviewing the result and conferring with its legal staff.