SANTA ANA – The city has agreed to pay $600,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a man who was shot to death by police in 2008, court records show.
Juan H. Carrasco, 35, was killed on Aug. 5, 2008, near Bishop Street and Cedar Street in Santa Ana. According to police accounts, an officer fired multiple rounds after Carrasco allegedly tried to grab another officer’s gun from its holster during a struggle. Carrasco was struck in the upper body and died at a hospital.
The lawsuit, filed in September 2008, alleged that police kept firing at Carrasco as he crawled on his hands and knees after being wounded.
The incident began when police were dispatched to the 800 block of East Bishop Street on a report of a possibly armed man in a red truck.
The man in the truck was questioned and released, according to police. While they were questioning him, another man who appeared “excited and agitated” began interfering with the officers, police said at the time.
The second man was Carrasco. Because of his irrational behavior, police patted him down for weapons, police said.
As police tried to take him into custody, they said, Carrasco resisted and tried to take an officer’s gun. Police didn’t find any weapons on Carrasco.
The lawsuit alleged that Carrasco’s arrest was “a violation of his Fourth Amendment rights to be free from unreasonable search and seizure as he had no weapons on him, he had committed no crimes and there was no reason for him to not to be free from being detained.”
“The officers claimed the guy was reaching for a gun,” said Dale Galipo, one of the attorneys representing Carrasco’s family members. “We thought the evidence showed otherwise.”
The officer who fired at Carrasco was Adrian Silva, Galipo said.
Cpl Anthony Bertagna of the Santa Ana police said Silva is still with the department, but couldn’t confirm whether he was the shooter.
The settlement amount will be divided between Carasco’s widow, five children, and his mother, according to documents filed in the case in federal court in Santa Ana.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge James V. Selna approved the settlement as it pertains to one of Carrasco’s minor children. Other parts of the settlement are still pending his approval.
Laura Rossini of the Santa Ana City Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the case as it has not yet been finalized.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7956 or agalvin@ocregister.com
