Palm Springs to pay $2.5 million to family of Marine shot by police

The city of Palm Springs has agreed to pay more than $2.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a 22-year-old Marine fatally shot by police.

A pair of officers on bicycles suspected Cpl. Allan DeVillena was drunk as he began to pull his car out of a downtown Palm Springs parking garage in November 2012.

DeVillena didn’t respond to the officers’ demands for him to stop, so one officer pulled his gun and dived into the moving car through an open window.

His partner said he didn’t know if the officer voluntarily leaped into the car -- he thought he might have been pulled in. So, fearing for his partner’s life, he opened fire.

DeVillena was shot six times and died at the scene.

The DeVillena family’s attorney, Dale K. Galipo, said that in addition to the money, the Palm Springs Police Department has agreed to discourage officers from shooting at moving cars and to work with the Marine Corps to get potentially inebriated service members back safely to the nearby base at Twentynine Palms.

The Police Department did not take disciplinary action against either officer, and ruled that the shooting was within the department’s use-of-force policy.

On Tuesday, Patrick Desmond, an attorney for the city, called the officers’ actions justified and said the settlement was simply a “business decision” made by the city’s insurance company. A jury trial was set to begin next week.

“Mr. DeVillena created a rapidly evolving and dangerous situation that placed both officers’ lives in danger,” Desmond said.

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