Case details
Plaintiff claimed police used excessive force in shooting son
SUMMARY
$2200000
Amount
Verdict-Plaintiff
Result type
Not present
Ruling
KEYWORDS
brain injury, died
FACTS
On the afternoon of May 16, 2013, plaintiffs’ decedent Christian Eaddy, a black 25 year old with a brain injury, was holding two knives while walking on the driveway outside his home, located on the 13,000 block of Corcoran Street, in Pacoima. Eaddy’s cousin subsequently called 911 and reported that Eaddy was sticking himself with hypodermic syringe needles, holding two knives, and threatening to kill himself. Although Eaddy had suffered a brain injury as a child, the 911 caller had not communicated this to the dispatcher or the officers. However, the cousin told the dispatcher that Eaddy was known to become aggressive with police and that four other family members were outside on the driveway watching Eaddy. When two Los Angeles police officers arrived at the scene, Eaddy was walking in circles on the driveway in front of family members while still holding knives. Ultimately, one officer fired his Taser, while the other officer, Christopher Carr, shot and killed Eaddy. Eaddy’s parents, plaintiffs Iola Propps and Greg Eaddy, sued Carr and Carr’s employer, the city of Los Angeles. The decedent’s parents alleged that Carr’s actions constituted excessive force, in violation of the Bane Act (civil rights) and the city was liable for Carr’s actions. On the first day of trial, Propps was removed as a plaintiff and Carr was dismissed with prejudice. Thus, the matter continued with Greg Eaddy’s claims against the city. The officers claimed that 40-60 seconds after they arrived, the decedent threatened them and then charged at them while holding a knife in each hand. They also claimed that the decedent ignored their commands to drop the knives, so Carr fired a single, fatal shot from about nine feet away. Thus, defense counsel argued that the Los Angeles police officers acted in self-defense. Counsel also noted that, in 2014, both the police chief and the Los Angeles police commission ruled that the shooting was justified and within policy., Christian Eaddy sustained a gunshot wound and died at a hospital. He was 25 years old. He was survived by his mother, Iola Propps, and father, Greg Eaddy. The decedent’s father sought recovery of wrongful death damages for the loss of his son. (Propps died in 2015.) Defense counsel noted that the decedent was shot by a single, fatal round from about nine feet away as the decedent approached the officers with one knife in each hand.
COURT
Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA
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INJURIES:
- anxiety
- brain
- brain damage
- brain injury
- cognition
- depression
- epidural
- extradural hematoma
- face
- facial bone
- fracture
- head
- headaches
- hearing
- impairment
- insomnia
- loss of
- mental
- nose
- psychological
- scapula
- sensory
- shoulder
- skull
- speech
- subdural hematoma
- tinnitus
- traumatic brain injury
- vision
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