Family Of South LA Teen Killed By Deputies Files Suit Against County
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – The family of a 16-year-old boy who was shot and killed by Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies earlier this year, prompting a large protest, has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the county.
The family of Anthony Weber and their attorneys announced the lawsuit Wednesday in a news conference outside U.S. District Court in downtown L.A.
Weber was killed on the night of Feb. 4 in the 1200 block of West 107th Street in Westmont.
The sheriff's department said deputies were called to the area because of a report that a person fitting Weber's description was pointing a handgun at a motorist. Arriving deputies said the boy appeared to have a handgun tucked into his waistband before he ran, prompting the deputies to chase after him.
When the boy turned toward deputies, they fired at him, the sheriff's department said. He was struck several times and died at the scene.
Immediately following the shooting, an angry, distraught crowd formed in the area.
No gun was recovered from Weber, although deputies said that in the chaos which followed, someone from the crowd may have swiped the weapon.
"Deputies saw a gun when the shooting occurred," Sheriff's Capt. Chris Bergner told CBS2 back in February. "Then, with the 30 to 40 people that came out of the apartment complex, they were trying to maintain security of that, and they believe that at some point somebody may have reached in and may have taken the gun."
That point was disputed by the Weber family attorneys Wednesday.
"There's a witness that we have interviewed to the shooting, who specifically verifies he (Weber) was unarmed, had no gun on him, no gun was ever tossed, this is totally made up," family attorney Dale Galipo told reporters Wednesday.
Weber's family also alleges that a security hold has been placed on the coroner's report, preventing them from seeing it.
Weber's friends told CBS2 he was a gang member, but was planning on spending that evening with his girlfriend. Weber's family says he was leaving a friend's Super Bowl party to go to dinner when the shooting happened.
Weber left behind a 9-month-old daughter.
The sheriff's department released the following statement Wednesday morning in response to the lawsuit.
"Justice is not achieved in seconds, minutes or hours but during months of a painstaking, detailed process of getting the facts right beyond a reasonable doubt. Evidence is not opinion. This is what makes justice worth fighting for, and waiting for. We have watched as individuals hurl allegations or immediately assume that deputy involved shootings and the aftermath are signs of police misconduct.
"It is frustrating for our Department to see that there is a growing body of evidence in this case that is undeniable, and yet, to protect the integrity of the investigation, to continue to maintain open channels of communication for more potential witnesses to come forward, we must stay silent. We too must wait for the months of evidence testing, re-testing, and examination by numerous county professionals which is taking place under the oversight of LA County's Office of Inspector General which has complete access to evidence and witness statements. The day will come when the evidence will speak for us because, in the best system of justice in the world, it is the evidence that must matter the most."
