LOS ANGELES - A mound of charges including wrongful death and excessive force were filed against Los Angeles and several unidentified police officers by a widow who says her husband was killed while unarmed and surrendering to law enforcement.
According to documents filed on April 6 in federal court, Daniel Rivera was in the vicinity of a reported burglary on Wingo St. on August 14, 2020. Rivera was standing near the fence of a wash when officers arrived; River jumped over the fence into the wash, and the officers followed suit, commanding him to lie down, the suit says.
Rivera's surviving widow says the decedent complied, surrendering by laying face down in a prone position.
The suit accuses the officers of using excessive force to apprehend the decedent despite his apparent surrender. One officer allegedly jumped on the plaintiff with his full body weight, and another allegedly tased the man despite his full compliance.
The officers proceeded with masking and hog-tying the man as he showed signs of difficulty breathing and respiratory distress, the suit says.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the decedent's death a homicide due to cardiopulmonary arrest after prone physical restraint and tasing.
Rivera's claim for damages was rejected by the City of Los Angeles on December 10.
The defendants are charged with unreasonable search and seizure, excessive force, deprivation of life without due process, municipal liability for unconstitutional custom or policy, interference with parent-child relationship, wrongful death, assault and battery, negligence and Bane Act violation. The decedent's widow, Silvia Imelda is represented by V. James Desimone Law.