Man’s Kin May Sue Over Death : Shooting: Family members threaten legal action. They say deputies overreacted, killing a man who was wielding a broken crutch.

A day after two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies shot and killed a Glendale man menacing them with a broken crutch, family of the dead man charged Monday that officers overreacted to the situation and threatened legal action.

Deputies shot at Aaron Cease, 30, 12 times as he lunged at them with the jagged edge of a broken metal crutch early Sunday in Glendale, according to investigators and witnesses. Both the Sheriff’s Department and the district attorney’s office are investigating the shooting--standard practice in shooting deaths that involve law enforcement officers.

The identities of the deputies were not released, and sheriff’s officials refused to describe standard procedure for deputies confronted by people who will not yield to verbal commands.

“We don’t want people playing Monday morning quarterback” until all the facts are available, said Sgt. Larry Lincoln. In general, he said, “we have a lot of options available. . . . We (don’t) want to paint anybody into a corner.”

But Cease’s sister, Rachel Roberg, said her father, Wesley Cease, was planning to sue the Sheriff’s Department. Family members said Cease suffered from “major depression” and had been under a doctor’s care for 12 years, but had never been violent.

“He was frail--tall and slender,” Roberg said. “I think he could have been tackled. . . . I think they just didn’t know what to do. They were nervous. It was the first thing they thought of.”

Family members speculated that Cease was on his way to the 7-Eleven a few blocks from his home at the time of the shooting. Three or four times each week, Cease made the trek to the convenience store at the corner of Montrose and La Crescenta avenues in Glendale.

He would go to the cash register and ask: “Did my mother call?” If she had, the clerks had orders to let Cease buy his cigarettes, coffee or wine on his mother’s credit.

“I knew the guy personally. He was a mentally unstable person who wasn’t going to harm anyone,” said Jay Singh, manager of the 7-Eleven. “I don’t know what happened that night. I don’t know what story they’re using.”

Deputies arrived at the 2500 block of Montrose Avenue after midnight Sunday in response to calls from residents and motorists who said they saw Cease swinging the broken crutch at pedestrians and parked cars, said Deputy Bob Taylor, who is investigating the case.

Deputy Fidel Gonzales said Cease approached the two deputies in a threatening manner and began swinging the crutch at them. Despite orders to stop, Cease continued toward them, Gonzales said. After the deputies had backed up about 120 feet with Cease in close quarters, Cease lunged at them and they opened fire, Gonzales said.

Taylor said Cease--6 feet, 3 inches tall and 148 pounds--was “within striking distance” when the deputies opened fire. He said the deputies were carrying pepper spray or Mace and that a field supervisor, who was en route, would have had a Taser gun.

He refused to comment on whether the shooting was appropriate.

“The general principle is you use no more force than necessary,” said James Fyfe, a former New York City police officer who now teaches at Temple University in Philadelphia and has testified at trials on the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s use of force.

He said sheriff’s deputies are supposed to use an escalating scale of force akin to the Los Angeles Police Department’s. If the presence of police doesn’t control the suspect, the next recourse is verbal orders, Fyfe said, then “pain compliance” such as wrist holds, then weapons such as Mace. “The last is deadly force, the gun,” Fyfe said.

“The problem for the cops is that they have traditionally been trained to intimidate people into submission, and that works with rational people,” Fyfe said. However, he added, such behavior will frequently antagonize irrational people.

Residents said Monday that they heard one set of shots, a pause and then a second stream of shots.

“That would be consistent with the way the deputies are trained,” Taylor said. “To fire, and assess the situation, and fire again.” Cease continued moving toward the deputies after the first set of shots, Taylor said.

Cease’s mother, Doreen Cease, said her son had the crutch to help with an ankle broken less than a year ago. Sheriff’s deputies disputed that the ankle was injured and said there were indications that Cease had been drinking.

Results of a preliminary autopsy conducted Monday will reveal if Cease was drunk or whether his ankle had healed.

Capt. Lee Davenport of the Crescenta Valley station said the deputies were reassigned to desk duty for five days, as is standard procedure following fatal shootings. “That’s a very traumatic situation for them,” Davenport said. “No one likes to take someone’s life.”

“They’re very good deputies,” he added.

Jack Plitt, who lives in an apartment building near where Cease was shot, said he was playing with his pet hamster when he heard the shots. Seconds before, Plitt said, his wife heard a voice say, “Don’t do that! The police are coming!”

Plitt and several others in the neighborhood said they thought deputies overreacted.

“I would like to know how much longer police are going to be able to get away with senseless violence,” said Plitt, 25. “Say my wife and I are walking down the street, and don’t stop. Are we going to get shot to death?”