City OKs Payment in Shooting by Officer
The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday agreed to pay $200,000 to the family of an 18-year-old Pacoima man shot nine times by a police officer responding to a 1992 domestic violence incident.
Efrain Lopez reportedly threatened LAPD Officer Neil Goldberg with a broomstick before he was fatally shot. Goldberg was later cleared of wrongdoing.
The city’s attorneys advised lawmakers that even though Goldberg was not prosecuted criminally or even disciplined internally, a jury might find that he overreacted or that “alternative but less deadly measures should have been taken,” Senior Assistant City Atty. Dan Woodard told the council in a memo on the case.
“In the event a jury finds against the city or officer involved, it is probable that the verdict and resulting attorney fee award will be much higher than the proposed settlement amount,” the memo said. “We believed the proposed settlement to be in the best economic interest of the city.”
Lopez’s mother, Santos Salcido Gallardo, summoned police to her home in November 1992, claiming Lopez had assaulted her and her live-in boyfriend, and broken windows in her home and car. Goldberg and another LAPD officer found Lopez nearby wearing underwear and a tank top covered in blood. When officers tried to arrest Lopez, he swung the broomstick at Goldberg’s partner, then raised it toward Goldberg, triggering the shots, police said.
The council balked at a $225,000 settlement offer in May, but voted unanimously Wednesday to approve the $200,000 payment.
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