Award in Shooting Case Likely to Stand

Attorneys for the city of Long Beach and the family of a woman police shot while she was experiencing a schizophrenic episode said Wednesday it was unlikely they would appeal a jury verdict a day earlier that in effect gave both sides some vindication.

The daughter of Marcella Byrd, 57, who was killed the morning of Jan. 19, 2002, as she raised a knife at Long Beach police officers, was satisfied that jurors held police negligent in her mother’s death, said her attorney, Randy McMurray.

And Long Beach City Atty. Bob Shannon, though he called the negative verdict “an emotional reaction to a tragedy,” said he was relieved that jurors ordered the city to pay about $170,000 in damages instead of the $25 million Byrd’s children sought in their lawsuit.

On Tuesday, a Long Beach jury ruled 10-2 that the officers were negligent in shooting Byrd and found officers Eduardo De La Torre, Gregory Woodruff and Reginald Vega 80% responsible for her death, while attaching 20% of the blame to the victim.

Attorneys said jurors awarded Angela Byrd, who had daily contact with her mother, about $210,300 in damages minus 20%, and $2,500 to her half brother, Tirus Pahrms of Las Vegas.

Marcella Byrd lived alone downtown, had been diagnosed with schizophrenia but would not take medication, her daughter said in a 2002 interview.

On the morning of Byrd’s death, she appeared to be having a schizophrenic episode when she walked to Top Valu Market and filled a shopping cart with items she took out of the store without buying. Store workers called police, and officers followed her as she trundled down the street, at some point abandoning the cart but refusing their orders to stop.

Not in dispute was the fact that officers had Byrd backed against a construction barricade at a busy corner near Gold’s Gym as a crowd gathered, creating another public safety concern.

After officers yelled at her to drop her knife and she did not, Sgt. Tim O’Donnell fired pellet-filled beanbags to try to knock Byrd down. It seemed to anger Byrd, who raised the knife, and officers fired at her. O’Donnell died before the trial, and the city attorney said the defense was hurt by the absence of his testimony as the widely respected supervising officer on scene.

At issue in the trial was whether Long Beach officers were properly trained in how to approach and defuse situations with mentally ill people, and whether they followed their department’s policies.