Settlement OKd in Police Shooting

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday agreed to pay $200,000 to the family of an 18-year-old Pacoima man gunned down by police after a 1992 domestic violence incident, although the officer who shot him to death was cleared of wrongdoing and the panel rejected a sightly higher settlement three months ago.

The city’s attorneys advised lawmakers that even though LAPD Officer Neil Goldberg was not prosecuted or even disciplined, a jury might find that he overreacted in firing nine rounds into Efrain Lopez, who was wielding a broomstick, or that “alternative but less deadly measures should have been taken.”

Lopez’s mother, Santos Salcido Gallardo, summoned police to her home in November 1992, charging that Lopez had assaulted her and her boyfriend. When officers tried to arrest Lopez, he swung the broomstick at Goldberg’s partner, then raised it toward Goldberg, who fired the shots, police said.