The mother of a man who was fatally shot by San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department deputies in 2023 was awarded a verdict of $51.8 million Thursday, her attorneys said.
It’s believed to be the largest verdict in a police shooting case in California history and the third-highest nationwide, according to the family’s attorneys.
On Feb. 5, 2023, 44-year-old Antonio Garza, Jr. led deputies on a more than half-hour chase from his home in Yucca Valley to near Palm Springs after he was suspected of starting a fire.
“My son was suffering from a mental illness,” Matilde Garza, Antonio Garza’s mother, said in an interview in Spanish. “They knew he was ill, yet they killed him out in the desert anyway. They left him lying there as if he had no family.”
A man struggling with mental illness was shot and killed by sheriff’s deputies two months ago and now his family says they are planning to file a lawsuit against three different law enforcement agencies. Robert Kovacik reports for the NBC4 News on Apr. 6, 2023.
The family claims Antonio Garza’s history of mental illness was known to the SBCSD and that he was shot a dozen times, including at least twice in the back and at least twice when he was on the ground.
“They shot him in the back while he was on the ground. They shot him twice in the head and once in the left leg. Antonio didn’t have to die. He just needed help,” Rebecca Brown, an attorney for the Garza family, said in an interview in Spanish.
On Thursday, attorneys say a federal jury reached a unanimous verdict against the sheriff’s department and SBCSD Deputies Nicholas Kridner and Bill Abernathy, finding them liable on all counts and awarding the Garza family $51.8 million in damages.
The family’s attorneys noted that, although the deputies were not wearing body cameras at the time of the incident, a video recorded by a motorist on Highway 10 — along with the results of an independent autopsy — was instrumental in securing the verdict.
“There needs to be better laws for people who are ill. Right now, the police just do whatever they want,” Matilde Garza said.
NBC Los Angeles reached out to the sheriff’s department for a response to the verdict. The department acknowledged the request but has not yet provided a comment.