Man, 60, Shot by Oxnard Police Files $450,000 Claim Against City

A 60-year-old man who was shot three times last month by an Oxnard police officer has filed a $450,000 claim against the city, alleging that he had posed no threat to the officer who shot him.

The claim filed by Ubertino O. Ayala also contends that the Police Department violated Ayala’s civil rights by having a “practice of shooting citizens of Hispanic descent without cause or right.”

Police Chief Robert Owens declined to discuss the claim, but dismissed the allegation that his department has a history of violating the rights of Latinos.

“Nonsense,” Owens said.

A claim is a legal requirement before a plaintiff can file a lawsuit.

The Ventura County district attorney has filed no charges against Ayala, pending an investigation into the Nov. 22 shooting. The Police Department has completed an internal investigation and concluded that the shooting was justified.

Police officials have defended the shooting by Officer Kenneth Dellinger, a 20-year veteran of the Oxnard force, saying that Ayala was shot in front of his residence after he aimed a loaded gun at Dellinger. A gun was recovered at the scene, police said.

Police went to the house in the 100 block of Featherstone Street to investigate a complaint of a man with a gun.

When police arrived at the house, Ayala pulled a gun from his waistband and pointed it at Dellinger, police said. Dellinger warned Ayala to drop the gun, but Ayala walked toward the officer, according to police. Dellinger then fired, hitting Ayala in the chest, left arm and right leg.

Carlos Zavala, Ayala’s son-in-law, said, however, that he was with Ayala during the incident and does not remember seeing his father-in-law with a gun.

Ayala, who is recovering at his residence after a three-week hospital stay, declined to discuss the shooting and referred all questions about the claim to his attorney, Hermez Moreno.

Moreno, a Santa Monica attorney, disputes the police version of the incident, saying his client had made no threatening gestures toward police. He said Ayala could not have been holding a gun in his hand because he was holding a beer and urinating near a bush when he was shot.

Moreno declined to say whether Ayala had carried a gun in his clothes at the time of the shooting.

Moreno alleges that Dellinger fired five shots at Ayala. Photographs of the scene indicate that two of Dellinger’s shots were fired into the ground after Ayala had already fallen, he said. Both missed, he said.

“As far as I’m concerned, at least three of those shots were not consistent with departmental policy,” he said.

Moreno said he plans to file a lawsuit and review past abuse allegations against Oxnard police to prove that the department has a history of violating the rights of Latino residents. If successful, Moreno said, he will ask the court for punitive damages.

He said he is requesting $450,000 in the claim filed Dec. 12 to pay for Ayala’s hospital bills and lost earnings. Moreno said Ayala, who worked at a mushroom farm, will be unable to work for five or 10 years because of the injuries.