Inglewood reaches tentative settlement in police shooting

The city of Inglewood will pay $2.45 million to settle a civil lawsuit brought by the families of three men who were shot, one fatally, by police officers who mistakenly believed gunfire was coming from the vehicle the men were riding in, according to a tentative settlement.

Michael Byoune died from his wounds, and driver Larry White and passenger Chris Larkin were injured in the shooting by Inglewood officers May 11, 2008, outside a Rally’s restaurant. Jacqueline Seabrooks, chief of the 190-member police department, described the incident at the time as “a very tragic outcome.”

Carl Douglas, an attorney representing the victims and their families, said he was pleased by the settlement, adding that it brought “some measure of justice” to the victims. “Three young men who had done absolutely nothing wrong had their lives changed forever,” he said.

“No amount of money will ever bring back Michael Byoune to his family, but hopefully, through his death, the city will make changes that will help all of the citizens of our community,” Douglas said. “For that reason, his death will not be in vain.”

Inglewood spokesman Ed Maddox confirmed the tentative settlement, “pending the completion of final documents.”

The shooting was the first in a series of fatal shootings of unarmed suspects by Inglewood police that year that drew community rebuke and calls for reform. The shootings sparked an inquiry by the Los Angeles County Office of Independent Review and changes in training at the Police Department. Most significantly, the U.S. Justice Department launched a civil rights probe, which federal officials told the city will continue.

Among the incidents under scrutiny is the fatal July 1, 2008, shooting of Ruben Walton Ortega, a 23-year-old alleged gang member. Ortega allegedly fled from police and reached into his waistband, causing an officer to fear that Ortega was armed. Seabrooks later said he was unarmed.

Three weeks later, on July 21, police shot and killed Kevin Wicks, 38, after officers said he had raised a gun at Officer Brian Ragan, who was responding to a report of a family disturbance at Wicks’ apartment complex. Ragan was one of two officers involved in the Byoune shooting.

Then, on Aug. 31, 2008, police shot and killed Eddie Felix Franco, a 56-year-old homeless man who had a realistic-looking toy gun in his waistband. Officers fired at least 47 rounds at Franco when he appeared to reach for the gun. A nearby motorist was struck and grazed in the head by one of the bullets.

A Times investigation, published more than two months before the federal inquiry began, found that Inglewood officers repeatedly resorted to physical or deadly force against unarmed suspects. According to law enforcement records reviewed by The Times, Inglewood police shot and killed 11 people, five of them unarmed, between 2003 and 2009.

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com