A federal jury has awarded $51.8 million to the mother of Antonio Garza Jr., in what the family's attorneys say is the largest verdict in a police shooting case in California history, the Associated Press reported. Garza, 35, was shot more than a dozen times at the end of a 35-minute chase that began at his Yucca Valley home, where he had started a fire, and ended on Interstate 10 in Palm Springs on February 5, 2023.
After a seven-day civil trial, the jury unanimously found the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department liable for the actions of Deputies Nicholas Kridner and Bill Abernathy, concluding that they used excessive force, violated Garza's civil rights and were responsible for his wrongful death, the Los Angeles Times reported. An independent autopsy presented at trial said officers fired 14 shots at Garza and seven more after he fell; he was hit twice in the back and twice on the ground. The deputies were not wearing body cameras, and part of the shooting was captured on a motorist's video on Interstate 10.
The award to Garza's mother breaks down as $8 million for emotional pain and suffering, $10 million for loss of love, $8 million for future loss of enjoyment, $2 million for mental pain, $6 million for physical pain, $2.8 million in lost earnings and $5 million for civil-rights violations, according to the Times' account of the verdict. Jurors also found the two deputies acted with reckless disregard and added $10 million in punitive damages.
The deputies' account, as presented in reporting on the trial video, was that Garza confronted officers more than once while holding an object, was hit twice with less-lethal bean-bag rounds without surrendering, and was shot after he allegedly raised a golf club over his head and swung it toward a deputy. The family's attorneys disputed that the force was justified. Garza's attorney Rebecca Brown told a Friday news conference, “This was an execution of a mentally ill man,” and his sister said the family had repeatedly sought help: “No one would step in to help our brother. Instead of helping, they only made things worse.”
The family is also calling on California's attorney general to file criminal charges against the deputies, according to ABC7 reporting carried on October 23. The Sheriff's Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the Times reported. A civil verdict does not itself decide any criminal case, and no criminal charges arising from the 2023 shooting were reported alongside the verdict.