Jury awards $2 million to family of Azusa man killed by deputy

The family of an Azusa man shot to death by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy has been awarded $2 million by a federal jury.

After a day and a half of deliberations, the jury Monday awarded the money to Mara Eva Gutierrez and Dionico Lara, the parents of Efrain Lara Gutierrez. The jury rejected the defense that the deputy feared for his life from a man with a knife.

Gutierrez, 31, was shot several times by Deputy David Salazar on Oct. 2, 2009, as the deputy investigated possible break-ins to vehicles involving two suspects. Gutierrez died at the scene.

The four-woman, four-man jury in downtown Los Angeles found that the deputy used excessive and unreasonable force when he shot Gutierrez five times.

“He was shot in the back,” said Dale Galipo, the family’s lawyer. “But just as importantly, we were able to show to jurors that the deputy wasn’t near him. The blood trail is 26 feet long. He was running away, not toward, the deputy when he was shot.”

The department asserted that Salazar fired because Gutierrez was armed with a knife and just a few feet from the deputy when he turned and threatened him. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office agreed with that assertion and did not file charges against the deputy.

Steve Whitmore, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman, said the department stands by the deputies’ action and plans to file motions challenging the verdict and may appeal if necessary.

“What they did, they had to do,” Whitmore said. “Deadly force is used when deputies’ lives are in danger or the public.”

Gutierrez was one of two suspects seen near cars before a foot pursuit in the 18200 block of Renwick Road, an unincorporated county neighborhood, ended with the deadly shooting. The other man escaped. The deputy alleged that Gutierrez was armed with a knife, but Galipo said his fingerprints were never found on the weapon.

The deadly incident unfolded about 1 a.m. when deputies contend that they saw another man with a cable wire breaking into cars and Gutierrez nearby. Both men took off running. Sheriff’s officials say Gutierrez fled from the deputy until he reached a fence where he turned toward the deputy with a knife and “fearing for his safety,” the deputy then fired his service weapon.

An autopsy found that the deputy shot the man in the back. Toxicology tests showed that Gutierrez had methamphetamine in his body.

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