Man Shot by Officer Wins Jury Award

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury Friday awarded $2.045 million to a 68-year-old man who was shot in the back by an LAPD officer two years ago after a dispute over a traffic ticket.

The civil court jurors determined that then-LAPD Officer Ronald Orosco violated Charles Beatty’s civil rights when he fired four shots at the motorist after an argument between the two men. Beatty was hit once. The bullet remains lodged in his back.

Charged with the crime of firing into an occupied vehicle, Orosco pleaded no contest and is serving a five-year sentence in state prison.

Beatty’s lawyers had asked jurors to award him $10 million to pay for his medical bills, compensate him for continuing pain and suffering and to punish Orosco for shooting him.

Despite the lesser amount, attorney Carl E. Douglas said he was elated by the verdict.

“Hopefully, a very powerful message has been sent--and will be received by the city of Los Angeles and the LAPD--so that tragedies of this type can be prevented in the future,” said Douglas, who tried the case with attorney John E. Sweeney.

Beatty, a tall, gray-haired man dressed Friday in blue jeans and a corduroy sports coat, said he was pleased with the verdict.

“I feel that I’ve been compensated,” he said. “I don’t think the amount really matters.”

The verdict in the case followed a three-week trial and three days of deliberations that several jurors described as highly emotional. Some jurors wanted to award Beatty $4 million. Others felt the case was worth less than $1 million.

“It wasn’t fair. He should have gotten more,” said jury forewoman Pearl Whitfield, 58. Whitfield said some jurors placed less value on Beatty’s life because “he’s not a doctor or lawyer or something like that.”

Juror Angie Gillingham said she found it difficult to give Beatty as much money as the jury finally did because she believed he was “50% responsible” for getting shot in the first place.

Gillingham said she believed Beatty had been obnoxious and argumentative with Orosco and his partner, Officer Gorgonio Medina.

“I think he contributed to what he got,” Gillingham said.

But juror Billy Kimball said some African American members of the panel argued persuasively that jurors who did not live in areas such as the one in the LAPD’s 77th Division, where the shooting took place, could not understand the fear of being confronted by police.

“They said the next time this happens, it’s going to be to me or my kid or my husband,” Kimball said outside the courtroom. “That’s hard to argue with. It creates a very emotional situation.”

Jurors reported at midday that they could not render a verdict on allegations of false imprisonment and civil rights violations by Medina. At that point, Beatty’s lawyers agreed to drop those charges from the complaint. Jurors reached their verdict with respect to ex-officer Orosco hours later.

Deputy City Atty. Richard Arias, who represented Medina and the city in the case, said simply, “Justice was done.” He declined to elaborate.

The encounter between Beatty and the officers took place on June 14, 2000.

Orosco and Medina, who were in an unmarked police car and were not in uniform, were stopped at a traffic light talking to a transient when Beatty pulled up behind them.

Beatty said he waited as the traffic signal changed from red to green several times before he finally became impatient and pulled around the nondescript Chevrolet. He said he was unaware at the time that the two men inside the car were police officers. As Beatty pulled away, he made an illegal left turn.

The officers then decided to pull him over.

Beatty admits he became argumentative, insisting that the officers should not have been blocking traffic.

After he was ticketed, he and Orosco traded insults as Beatty walked toward his car.

At that point, Orosco said, he decided to arrest Beatty for allegedly challenging him to a fight. According to the officer, as he attempted to remove Beatty from the car, Beatty resisted and tried to drive away.

Fearful that he was going to be dragged into traffic, Orosco said he opened fire, hitting Beatty in the back as he drove off.