West Covina Offers $1.5M To Family Of Man Shot 15 Times By Police
WEST COVINA (AP) — West Covina council members have authorized a $1.5 million settlement with the family of a 24-year-old who died after being shot 15 times by two police officers in 2008.
City attorney Arnold Alvarez-Glasman said in a Pasadena Star-News report this weekend that the family of Omar Francisco Garcia has a month to decide whether to accept the settlement or allow the case to go to trial. The family's lawyer declined to comment on the offer, which entails no admission of guilt.
Police say Garcia was acting suspiciously in a store parking lot and fought with officers who approached him. They say he grabbed an officer's baton and tried to use it on them.
The officers fired on him after a Taser malfunctioned. Prosecutors determined the officers acted in self-defense.
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