U.S. law OKs damages in police excessive force, court rules

When a Californian is unjustifiably killed by police, the victim's family members can seek damages under federal law for the pain their relative suffered before death, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

No such compensation is allowed under California law. But the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said a post-Civil War U.S. law requires the government to pay for pain and suffering caused by police who use excessive force, despite a state's limitations on damages.

The ruling involved a fatal shooting by a Los Angeles police officer who said the 21-year-old man had lunged at him with a knife, a statement the jury did not believe.

Muhammad Usman, described by his family as an autistic man who often wandered from home, was spotted by police sleeping in front of an apartment building one night in March 2008. Officers woke him and asked for identification, which he provided. While one officer was checking for warrants, another, Joseph Cruz, shot Usman three times in the chest and abdomen.

Cruz, who had a cut on his hand, testified that Usman had charged at him with a knife. But the court said other witnesses testified that the knife found at the scene was a type typically carried by police and did not have Usman's DNA, that the second officer did not hear Cruz shout a warning about a knife, and that the trajectory of the shots showed they were fired while Usman was collapsing rather than advancing toward Cruz.

The jury found that Cruz had used excessive force and had acted recklessly or with malice. Jurors awarded the family $700,000 for Usman's wrongful death, a verdict the city did not appeal, and $1 million for his pain and suffering before death. A lawyer for the family said Usman had struggled to get up after the first gunshot and was heard groaning before he died.

U.S. District Judge Gary Klausner threw out the $1 million award, saying relatives who sue for wrongful death are barred by California law from seeking additional damages for the victim's pain and suffering.

But the appeals court said the California statute is inconsistent with the federal law's goal of providing compensation for unjustified killings by state officers. If no such damages were allowed, Judge William Fletcher said in the 3-0 ruling, the city would pay less for killing Usman than for leaving him wounded but alive and suing for his own pain and suffering.