SANTA ANA : Widow’s Suit Claims Police Overreacted

The widow of a San Dimas man who was killed in a volley of gunfire while trying to flee Fountain Valley police in a stolen vehicle filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Wednesday against the city and the Police Department, claiming officers used excessive force.

In a 14-page suit filed in Orange County Superior Court, Krista Marie Rogers also accused the two Fountain Valley police officers who opened fire on her husband, Cameron C. Rogers, of being negligent and violating his civil rights.

“The actions of the defendants (police officers) . . . were entirely unjustified by any actions or conduct by (Rogers) and constituted an unreasonable and excessive use of deadly force,” the suit said.

Assistant City Manager Ray Kromer, who said that the city had not received a copy of the lawsuit, declined comment.

Rogers, 27, was killed on July 25 after he stole a Chevrolet Blazer from a Huntington Beach doughnut shop at 4:15 a.m., police said.

Fountain Valley officers spotted Rogers in their city and began a chase that ended in Newport Beach, where the Blazer spun out of control on a narrow street and crashed into three cars and a cement wall.

Police said that Rogers was fatally wounded a moment later when he appeared to be reaching for a weapon in the glove compartment of the stolen truck. It was later determined that Rogers, who was shot 10 times in the left arm, leg and side, was unarmed.

Police also said that Rogers appeared to have been trying to work the truck out of its wedged-in position in an attempt to run them over.

But Santa Ana attorney Bruce R. Farrar, who is representing Krista Rogers, said that the officers, who remained unidentified, overreacted and fired their weapons recklessly. He said that Rogers could only have moved the vehicle two to three feet at a time, giving officers opportunity to subdue him with Mace or to shoot the tires.

“There’s just absolutely nothing Mr. Rogers could have done to harm those officers,” Farrar said. “The vehicle was completely blocked in. There just was no threat to the officers’ lives.”

Krista Rogers, who is now living in Sacramento with her infant daughter, was unavailable for comment, Farrar said.