Brett Kelman

The Desert Sun

The family of a man who was killed by Palm Springs police in November has filed a claim against the city insisting the shooting was unnecessary and excessive.

And the police department still hasn't identified the officer who pulled the trigger, despite a state law that says it should.

Abraham Ortiz, 26, was shot by police during an attempted arrest outside the Rite Aid drug store on South Palm Canyon on Nov. 4.

Police said they were called to the scene by reports of Ortiz shouting homophobic and racial slurs and urinating and exposing himself in public. When officers tried to take Ortiz into custody, a struggle led the suspect and an officer to tumble onto the ground, then an officer shot Ortiz.

FIRST STORY: Palm Springs police kill man in parking lot struggle

In the claim, attorney Benajmin Schonbrun argues that officers must have been "negligently trained" because they should have known that Ortiz was not a threat.

"The parents of Abraham Ortiz are seeking to hold the police officers and Palm Springs Police Department accountable for the taking of their son's life in a brutal, unnecessary manner,” Schonbrun said in an email. “They seek truth and justice for their deceased son.”

Neither the police department nor the city attorney immediately responded to a request for comment. City Hall received the claim by mail on Monday morning.

The police department has never identified the officer who shot Ortiz, despite the fact that this information is public under state law. The California Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that police departments must name officers who fire their guns in the line of duty in almost all circumstances. Most local police departments comply with this ruling within 10 days, but Palm Springs has always been an exception. The police union initially fought the release of names in Riverside County Superior Court, but the city eventually agreed it would identify officers who fire their weapons.

MORE: Palm Springs will now ID cops in shooting cases

The promise has only been half-fulfilled, however. The department has identified officers who fired their weapons in past shootings, but not in any recent ones.

The identity of the officer who shot Ortiz has now been withheld for nearly five months. The Desert Sun has filed two public records requests seeking the officer's identity, but the department's attorneys have twice said the name won't be released because the shooting is still “under investigation.”

Schonbrun questioned what the police could still be investigating after nearly five months.

The Riverside County District Attorney Office has not yet decided if the Ortiz shooting was justified.

Ortiz was killed less than a month after two Palm Springs officers were killed in an unrelated ambush-style shooting, shocking the police department, the local community and the nation as a whole. Officers Jose ‘Gil’ Vega, 63, and Lesley Zerebny, 27, were shot during a routine domestic abuse call on Oct. 8. John Felix, a known gang member, shot the officers with an AR-15 and armor-piercing bullets.

Multiple police officers then exchanged fire with Felix, who was ultimately captured after a 12-hour standoff. Palm Springs has not identified the officers who fired in this gun battle either, saying it is too dangerous to release the names because of Felix's gang ties.

MORE: Police shooting suspect captured after 12-hour 'nightmare'

Schonbrun, who is based in Los Angeles, is the same attorney who sued Palm Springs police for the fatal shooting of Marine Cpl. Allan DeVillena II in 2012. DeVillena, a drunk driver, was shot while attempting to flee from two cops in the downtown Palm Springs parking garage. Officer Chad Nordman leapt into DeVillena’s moving car through an open window, then shot the Marine point blank in the chest. Nordman’s partner, Mike Heron, also fired on the car, believing Nordman had been pulled inside.

RELATED: Police officer: 'I had no choice' but to shoot Marine

Palm Springs paid the DeVillena family $2.6 million in a settlement.

The Ortiz shooting case hasn't proceeded as far as lawsuit — at least not yet. The claim filed this week is generally a precursor to a lawsuit, which gives the city a chance to settle the dispute before it goes to civil court.

Reporter Brett Kelman can be reached by phone at (760) 778-4642, by email at brett.kelman@desertsun.com, or on Twitter @TDSbrettkelman.