Second Suit Filed in Fatal Shooting of Man by Deputies

The girlfriend and the brother of a Hawthorne man who was mistaken for a robbery suspect and slain by a sheriff’s deputy last May have filed a wrongful-death suit against the county that also accuses the Sheriff’s Department of “a cover-up.”

The suit is the second within five days filed by relatives of Marcus Donel, a 30-year-old legal courier who was killed by a single bullet in the chest in the driveway of his Inglewood Boulevard apartment. Last Thursday, Donel’s mother, two sisters and two daughters from an earlier relationship filed suit in Torrance Superior Court seeking $5 million in damages.

The relatives accuse the Sheriff’s Department of negligence in stopping Donel, a black man, after the owner of a nearby liquor store reported he had been robbed by a Latino suspect. A radio broadcast that incorrectly identified the suspect as a black male preceded the shooting.

In addition to the wrongful-death, negligence and cover-up allegations, the new suit, also filed in Torrance, seeks unspecified damages for assault and battery, false imprisonment, negligent employment, violation of civil rights and infliction of emotional distress.

Donel’s relatives have portrayed the sheriff’s investigation, which cleared the deputy who fired the fatal shot, as a whitewash.

The county counsel has not yet assigned anyone to handle the new cases. However, the county denied similar earlier claims filed by Donel’s relatives. As to allegations of a cover-up, Sheriff’s Capt. Walter Lanier, said: “Needless to say, I don’t agree with that.”

Donel had been the sole means of support for his live-in companion, Cheryl Wroten, and his two daughters, who had been living with Donel and Wroten at the time of the shooting, said Winston McKesson, lawyer for Wroten and Donel’s half-brother, Terry Curd, who witnessed the shooting. The daughters have since moved in with Donel’s mother.

Curd, also a plaintiff in the suit, was detained and released after the shooting incident. The lawsuit alleges that he was beaten by deputies and feared for his own life.

The shooting took place on the night of May 30, 1989, after Donel and Curd were followed into the driveway by two deputies. The deputies apparently believed Donel matched the description of a suspect in the holdup of nearby liquor store about half an hour earlier.

Ordered to lie face-down on the driveway, an angry Donel had partially complied when, according to the sheriff’s investigators, he cursed the deputies and drew his arm close to his body. Deputies said they thought he may have been reaching for a gun.

Deputy Patrick Maxwell then fired the fatal shot. Of four deputies on the scene, all with guns drawn, Maxwell was the only one to shoot.

No weapon was found on Donel, and Sheriff’s Department officials later acknowledged that they had the wrong suspect.

A review of audio tapes showed that Jim Cheong, owner of the Capri Liquor Store in the Lennox district, reported to 911 operators that his store had been robbed by a male “Mexican,” about 18 years old.

A pair of two-deputy patrol cars moved to the area--Maxwell’s and another to the store itself. After interviewing Cheong, deputies issued this description of the suspect: “One male black, 17 to 18, 5-6, 125, wearing all black and a black baseball cap.”

Maxwell and his partner subsequently spotted Donel and Curd driving on Inglewood Boulevard in Donel’s car. The 5-foot, 9-inch, 160-pound Donel was wearing black.

An internal investigation into the shooting concluded that Maxwell believed that his life was in danger. He was back on patrol within a few days.

Capt. Lanier described the broadcast of the wrong identification as “just a mistake” and “an accidental mix-up.”

The deputies who interviewed Cheong were not disciplined, Lanier said. “Either he (Cheong) didn’t give the right description, or they didn’t copy it correctly,” he said.