Anaheim city officials have agreed to pay nearly $6 million in a settlement with the family of Brandon Lopez, a Santa Ana resident who was shot and killed by Anaheim police officers in 2021.
The settlement comes three years after the fatal shooting that followed a high-speed chase that ended in a four-hour standoff in the city of Santa Ana. Lopez was pronounced dead at the scene.
Anaheim police officials said the officers thought what turned out to be a water bottle in a black bag he was holding was a gun. No weapons were found on Lopez or the car he was driving, according to a video briefing released by the Anaheim Police Department.
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Family members of Lopez had filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the cities of Anaheim and Santa Ana in November 2021 with claims including excessive force and negligence. A federal judge in September ruled that the city of Santa Ana and its police chief at the time, David Valentin, were not liable in Lopez’s death.
In November, a report released by California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Anaheim police officers acted with the intent of defending themselves and others in the shooting of Lopez.
“While we never want to see the loss of life involving our police, we stand by our officers’ actions in what was a difficult situation with a reasonable fear of a gun being involved,” Anaheim spokesperson Mike Lyster said in a statement Friday. “We made the decision to settle part of the claim in the best interest of all involved and to put that part behind us. We look at all claims on their own and continue to evaluate the family’s other claim.”
Two claims were filed against the city, one on behalf of Lopez’s children, the other by his parents. The claim filed by Lopez’s parents is still ongoing, Lyster said.
The settlement money will come from a fund that Anaheim and other cities contribute to and not the city’s general fund, Lyster said.
“It is technically not an insurance fund, but it works similarly,” Lyster said. “We and other cities contribute to it and then draw on it as needed. While we hope not to see situations that require settlements, we plan for them so they won’t impact funding for daily services.”
Santa Ana City Councilmember Johnathon Ryan Hernandez, Lopez’s cousin, has previously said Lopez was experiencing a “mental health crisis,” and has alleged that officers ignored his efforts, and those of other family members, to help Lopez at the scene.
Lawyers representing Lopez’s children did not respond to requests for comment, nor did Hernandez.
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