GARDEN GROVE : Sheriff Is Named in $15-Million Lawsuit

A $15-million, wrongful-death lawsuit was filed Wednesday on behalf of a Garden Grove widow and her two children against Orange County and Sheriff Brad Gates, contending that violence-prone deputies fatally shot her husband in Stanton in March.

In the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Melissa Collins blames the Sheriff’s Department for the death of her husband, Kenneth Wade Collins, 28, outside a convenience store on March 28.

The suit contends that the husband was beaten by one or more sheriff’s deputies and then shot in the back several times.

The suit said that as a matter of “policy and practice,” Gates fails to adequately supervise and discipline deputies who use unreasonable force on citizens, and that he conducts internal investigations into such matters so “as to obfuscate and conceal deputy culpability.”

Neither the exact number nor names of deputies involved nor the autopsy results have been made public. The family’s lawyer, Hugh R. Manes, contends that Collins was unarmed and that the autopsy will show he was shot in the back.

Sheriff’s Department Lt. Richard J. Olson declined to comment on the suit. But he said the deputy or deputies involved remain on active duty.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Bryan Brown said his office is still investigating the shooting.

According to the Sheriff’s Department and Collins’ family members, the incident began outside the Circle K convenience store on Chapman Avenue when a deputy tried to question Kenneth Collins about a robbery. Collins struggled and broke free, running south on Dale Street.

The deputy caught Collins in the middle of the street and a second fight began. A knife was dropped in the scuffle and Collins began to run away.

The Sheriff’s Department, in a statement released at the time of the shooting, said Collins was shot as he then “turned toward the deputy with his hands concealed.”

The widow seeks $5 million in damages each for herself and her two daughters, Felicia Cheri, 5, and infant Tabitha Joy. She also seeks $1 million in punitive damages against the deputy or deputies.