Cathedral City Family Files Lawsuit Over Officer-Involved Shooting
Nearly three dozen people marched to the police station Monday morning armed with picket signs.
“We want justice! We want justice!” they chanted.
They were fighting on behalf of Juan Hernandez-Cazares. The 21-year-old was shot and killed by a police officer on September 19.
“At this point, about one and half months later, the family has been provided with no information from the Cathedral City Police Department about the facts in this investigation,” said Christopher Mandarano, the family’s attorney. “None of the family members have been contacted since the incident occurred.”
The family filed a claim against the city on October 25. Lt. Chuck Robinson responded to the family’s allegations about the lack of communication.
“The police department has spoken to the family on numerous occasions from the onset of this investigation,” he said. “Where the breakdown seems to have started is when they retained counsel. Once they got an attorney, our own counsel recommended that we limit our comments to the family about the investigation.”
The city has 45 days to respond to the claim. If the city accepts it, the family will sit down with city officials to decide on a settlement. If the city rejects it, the family will file a civil lawsuit.
According to police, Hernandez-Cazares was shot after he ran from them and aimed a gun at one of the officers.
Officers came to the scene initially in response to a 911 call. The female caller told the dispatcher there was a man in her house with a gun.
The Hernandez family say they are grieving still over Juan’s death.
“His birthday is coming up, and what are we supposed to do?” said sister Maribel. “Thanksgiving. Christmas. What are we going to do without my brother? We don’t have anybody else. They [police] took everything away from us. We want them to understand they made a mistake, and they need to take responsibility.”
Investigators are compiling a report for the district attorney to determine if police were at-fault. They plan to submit that report by next week.
