Claim Filed in Off-Duty Slaying by LAPD Officer

The family of a man who was killed in July by an off-duty Los Angeles police officer filed a $10-million claim for damages Friday against the city of Los Angeles and the Police Department.

Relatives of 25-year-old Maziar Badie allege that LAPD Officer Edward Stepanian was suffering from psychological problems when he shot Badie to death in an empty parking lot in the middle of the night. The four-year department veteran, who had left work shortly before the 4 a.m. shooting, had no reason to fire his weapon, the relatives say.

Stepanian, 27, told authorities he fired because Badie and Bahman Omrani were trying to rob him with a “metallic weapon.”

Badie, a computer programming student from Northridge, was shot five times in the West Hollywood parking lot after getting out of his car. He died shortly after. Omrani was not injured.

Stepanian had gotten out of his car in the parking lot shortly before the shooting. Witnesses said they heard an argument between the officer and Badie before the shots were fired.

The Sheriff’s Department, the LAPD and the district attorney’s office are conducting separate investigations of the shooting.

Cameron Stewart, who is representing the family, said she believes there was no justification for the shooting. Badie and Omrani did not have weapons, she said.

“I think it’s a classic case of the use of excessive force,” said Stewart, who works for attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr.’s firm. “At the very most, there might have been an argument between the two of them. Even if that were so, it’s not any basis for Officer Stepanian shooting him in the back, particularly when he was unarmed.”

A claim must be filed with a government agency before a lawsuit can be pursued.

Stepanian’s attorney, Lawrence J. Hanna, said his client acted in self-defense.

“Anybody can sue anybody for anything, but that doesn’t mean it’s right and it doesn’t mean it’s valid,” he said. “There should not be a lawsuit and [my client] will be vindicated when all is said and done.”

The claim was filed on behalf of four members of Badie’s family and alleges that Stepanian did not have the proper training and skill required of a police officer. It also alleges that Stepanian had “severe emotional problems which made him unfit to serve as a police officer and unfit to patrol the streets of Los Angeles.”

Three days after the shooting, according to police and witnesses, Stepanian barricaded himself inside his apartment and threatened to kill himself. His actions followed an alleged domestic violence incident with his girlfriend.

The claim accuses the city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Department of acting “negligently, recklessly and with deliberate indifference” and failing to provide officers with appropriate training on proper use of force.

Badie’s family members say they plan to file a civil suit alleging wrongful death, assault and battery and civil rights violations if the claim is denied.

The city and the LAPD have 45 days to act on the claim. A spokesperson for City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo said late Friday that the office had not yet received the claim but will review the facts of the case before determining how to proceed.

Stepanian and Badie’s family attorney provide differing accounts of the shooting, which took place July 16 in the parking lot in the 1300 block of Crescent Heights Boulevard.

Stepanian has been assigned to administrative duty in the LAPD’s Hollywood Division since the shooting, officials said.

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Times staff writer Matt Lait contributed to this report.