County Is Sued Over Killing

The father of a 19-year-old mentally ill man fatally shot by a Ventura County sheriff’s deputy earlier this year has filed a federal lawsuit against the county, alleging his son’s civil rights were violated by the use of excessive force.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles last week to beat a six-month statute of limitations for cases involving state agencies, said attorney Todd Krauss, who represents the victim’s father, Donald H. Daniels.

Despite the filing, Krauss said it did not guarantee that his client would pursue the case. “We do not know if we’re proceeding or not,” he said.

James Daniels, who had a history of mental illness, was shot eight times, including six times in the back, on April 8 as he approached the entrance of a Thousand Oaks swimming school armed with a box-cutter-type knife. A district attorney’s investigation recently found that while Deputy Vincent Camou “acted in lawful defense of others,” the shooting could not be “conclusively justified.”

Krauss declined to elaborate on details of the lawsuit. However, according to an earlier claim his law office had filed against Ventura County and the city of Thousand Oaks, the elder Daniels planned to seek $5 million in damages.

County attorneys were unaware of the suit but have maintained that Camou and other officers in the incident had used alternative measures -- including firing a bean-bag shotgun at Daniels -- to stop him but without success.

“If they’re going to do it, let’s do it,” attorney Alan Wisotsky, who represents local law enforcement agencies in cases involving officer shootings, said of the filing. “Maybe once it’s under way, they’ll realize that the steps the deputy took were appropriate.”