CNN
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The household of an 18-year-old lady who was fatally shot by a California college security officer in 2021 reached a $13 million settlement settlement with the Lengthy Seaside Unified Faculty District of their civil case, household attorneys mentioned in a information convention Tuesday.
Manuela “Mona” Rodriguez was shot by a Millikan Excessive Faculty security officer on September 27, 2021, after a bodily altercation involving Rodriguez and a 15-year-old lady on the road, Lengthy Seaside police beforehand mentioned. Rodriguez had tried to flee in a sedan and the varsity security officer shot on the automobile because it accelerated, putting Rodriguez, who was within the entrance passenger seat, police had mentioned.
Rodriguez died after spending greater than every week on life assist. She left behind a 5-month-old son.
In an announcement, the Lengthy Seaside Unified Faculty District confirmed it had been negotiating phrases of a settlement and added the settlement shouldn’t be an “admission of legal responsibility.”
“The college district and its insurance coverage carriers have been in negotiations on a settlement, however as a result of now we have not seen or ratified an settlement, we can not focus on the main points,” the varsity district mentioned. “Settlements like these embrace language that there is no such thing as a admission of legal responsibility on the district’s half.”
“Nonetheless, we once more share our sincerest condolences with everybody who was impacted by this horrible occasion,” the district added.
Household lawyer Michael Carrillo additionally confirmed to CNN they “anticipate no admission of legal responsibility (from the varsity district) within the launch settlement.”
A courtroom date for the settlement approval has not but been set, Carrillo added.
In a information convention Tuesday, Rodriguez’s mom mentioned she has been in search of justice since her daughter’s dying.
“I don’t know how you can go on, how I’m right here, how you can transfer on with out my child lady. She meant every part to me,” Manuela Sahagun mentioned. “All I would like is justice – justice for my child lady.”
Settlement funds which have been designated for Rodriguez’s younger son will stay in a belief till he turns 18, a household lawyer mentioned.
Eddie Gonzalez, the varsity security officer who shot Rodriguez, was charged with homicide and has pleaded not responsible.
He was fired by the Lengthy Seaside Board of Schooling days after the capturing for violating the district’s use-of-force coverage, which instructs its security officers to not shoot at a fleeing particular person, shifting automobile or via a automobile window until “circumstances clearly warrant the usage of a firearm as a remaining technique of protection,” the coverage states.
In an announcement to CNN, Gonzalez’s lawyer Michael D. Schwartz mentioned, “What elements a municipality and their insurance coverage service might contemplate in deciding to settle a civil regulation swimsuit are not often if ever associated as to if the prosecution can show in courtroom {that a} crime was truly dedicated by my shopper.”
“If previous historical past is in any respect instructive, the outcomes of those instances, primarily based on the proof introduced in courtroom, are not often in line with what seems earlier than trial within the media,” Schwartz mentioned. “Circumstances are, and needs to be, tried in a courtroom, and never within the ‘courtroom’ of misinformed public opinion.”
The Los Angeles County District Lawyer’s Workplace informed CNN Gonzalez is scheduled to be in courtroom for a preliminary listening to on June 7.
