The Region - News from April 9, 1987

After deliberating for little more than a day, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury has decided that two Los Angeles police officers were justified in shooting an unarmed high school student outside a Westlake area bar in 1981. Arturo Lopez, now 24, had sued for more than $4 million, claiming that the shooting left him with abdominal problems and numbness in his arm. Lopez’s attorney, Edward Barker, claimed that his client had gone to the bar, where his brother had been stabbed during a fight, and was shot by Officers Dewey Van Haastert and Chris Bonilla when he stepped toward them with his hands raised. The officers, however, testified that Lopez had his hands down and was hiding something behind his back. One of the officers said he thought he saw a gun, but no gun was found. Believing that Lopez was about to shoot, the officers said, they fired after repeatedly ordering him to drop the weapon. “The jury decided we were right,” Assistant City Atty. Robert Seeman said.