Suit filed in fatal police shooting
Two months after the district attorney’s office ruled a fatal police shooting justified, the family of the man is suing the city for excessive force and wrongful death.
Rodney Carl Sandberg, 24, was shot multiple times March 15 by police who were responding to a call regarding a suicide. Sandberg had threatened suicide and poked himself in the chest with a small steak knife, but his stepfather had been able to calm him and persuaded him to put down the knife when the police burst through the door, according to the lawsuit. Police escalated the situation and unnecessarily subdued Sandberg with a Taser several times before shooting him 14 times and killing him, the lawsuit alleges.
Police Lt. Lloyd DeGonia said at the time that Sandberg was shot when he came toward the officers with the knife.
The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office decided not to file charges against the city or its officers and closed the case in October.
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