Jury Awards $450,000 to Man Shot by Deputies

A forklift operator who was shot by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies when they stormed into his garage in response to reports of gunfire at the Duarte house won $450,000 Friday in damages awarded by a federal jury.

Asmires Ramirez, 22, who was shot twice in the Feb. 20 incident, claimed the two deputies used excessive force and were recklessly indifferent to his safety when they fired shots at his armed companion, striking him instead.

The verdict, which includes $75,000 in compensatory damages and $150,000 in punitive damages against each of the two deputies, was believed to be one of the largest punitive damage awards assessed in a civil rights case, said Ramirez’s lawyer, Stephen Yagman, who was joined by attorney Howard Price.

Lawyers for the Sheriff’s Department argued during the weeklong trial that Deputies Joseph Gagliardi and George Markel, stationed at the department’s Temple City substation, acted in accordance with their training when they drew their weapons before entering the garage.

Expert Testimony

But an expert in police tactics testified for the defense that the deputies should have remained outside the garage, called for backup and waited for the armed man to walk outside, Yagman said.

The incident began when four of the 10 men living in the house decided after a night of socializing to retire to the garage where they slept.

One of the men, whom Yagman identified as Pioquinto Herrera, “wanted to keep on partying,” Yagman said. Herrera picked up a gun and fired at the locked garage door, prompting the owner of the house, Homero Rojas, to call police, he said.

Checked on Commotion

Ramirez heard the commotion and wandered into the garage to see what was happening, he said, while Rojas went out into the driveway. As the two deputies walked up to the house, guns drawn, Yagman said, Rojas pointed at the garage, yelling “borracho, “ or “drunk,” and “pistola, “ Spanish for “gun.”

The deputies claimed that as they entered the garage they called out a warning, in Spanish and in English, for the occupants to put their hands up. The plaintiff, who was not armed, said he never heard the warning.

“The first thing he heard was a loud bang, and he felt a pain in his abdomen,” Yagman said.

Ramirez Not Charged

Ramirez, hit twice, was taken into custody on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon against a police officer and held about a week in a jail medical ward before being released without charges.

Herrera, who was armed but not hit, was later convicted of assault with a deadly weapon against a police officer, Yagman said.

John Daly, who represented the two deputies, did not return phone calls Friday.