L.A. Urged to Settle for $775,000 in Killing by Officer

The city attorney’s office has agreed that the city should pay $775,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of a 19-year-old Pacoima man who was accidentally shot and killed by a Los Angeles police officer six years ago.

The victim, Kenneth Randolf Ramirez, was killed by police investigating a purse snatching soon after he returned home from work at about 1 a.m. on Oct. 16, 1980, according to court records.

Ramirez was standing by his father’s car when a patrol car pulled alongside. Officer William E. Rhinehart got out, drew his service revolver and accidentally squeezed the trigger, killing Ramirez with a bullet in the head, Assistant City Atty. Philip J. Sugar said Friday.

Rhinehart had drawn his gun when he saw Ramirez’s hand near his pocket, Sugar said. But officers found that Ramirez had only a set of keys in his hands and was not armed, he said.

Rhinehart, an eight-year Los Angeles Police Department veteran, was not disciplined in the incident but quit the department a year later, Sugar said.

Police had gone to the house after a woman reported that a man had stolen her purse in Beverly Hills that evening, and gave police a license plate number for the suspect’s car, which was traced to Ramirez’s father.

Ramirez’s brother was questioned in the theft but was not charged, Sugar said.

The city was sued by Ramirez’s parents and 6-year-old daughter.

The city did not dispute its liability in the case, Sugar said. “It was an accidental shooting and that legally translates into a negligent shooting,” he said.

The city agreed to the settlement Thursday, just before the scheduled start of the civil trial in San Fernando Superior Court, because of fears that a jury “would award substantially more,” Sugar said.

“The minute this little girl walks into the courtroom you were going to have 12 jurors fall in love with her,” Sugar said. “There would have been a raw sympathy factor, and sympathy equals dollars.”

The settlement will go to the City Council for approval this month, Sugar said.