The city of South Pasadena has settled in a wrongful death sentence brought by the mother of actress Vanessa Marquez, who was shot and killed by police at her home during a 2018 wellness checkup when authorities claimed she was wielding what agents say. was a gun.
Marquez’s mother, Delia McElfresh, filed charges in Los Angeles federal court against the city of South Pasadena last August, the former police chief and multiple officers. The lawsuit alleged that bad tactics and overreaction from the police led to the actress’s deadly shooting.
“Any loss of life is tragic,” South Pasadena Mayor Diana Mahmud said in a recent statement. “However, I can now report that the parties have reached a mutually acceptable settlement of $ 450,000 to save the parties the costs associated with lengthy litigation.”
Most of the costs of the lawsuit and settlement will come from the city’s risk pool, South Pasadena said in a press release.
The lawsuit – which also alleged unlawful entry, unreasonable detention, excessive force and violation of due process – did not state the amount of damages sought. A legal claim that preceded a separate lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court in June asked for $ 20 million. As part of the settlement, all claims will be dismissed with bias, the city said.
Marquez, known for her roles on the TV show “ER” and the movie “Stand and Deliver,” had a history of seizures and struggled with mental health problems. After a friend called on August 30, 2018 to request the welfare check, police entered the 49-year-old’s home in the 1100 block of Fremont Avenue and woke her, and she had an assault in her bedroom, according to a police. body camera video.
Authorities say agents and a mental health doctor spoke with Marquez for more than an hour in an attempt to persuade her to accept medical attention. When she declined, agents informed her that she was being placed under a so-called 5150 waiting area to involuntarily take her to the hospital. Marquez protested and refused to be detained, according to the camera video of the body.
The video shows Marquez reaching into a bag and pulling out what looked like scissors, before reaching for another object.
A police officer is then heard in the video screaming that Marquez had a gun as he pulls out his own gun and withdraws from the bedroom. At one point, Marquez hears what sounds like, “Kill me.”
The police pull back down the stairs of the apartment and call out to Marquez to talk to them and drop the gun. Minutes later, Marquez appears at the top of the stairs with an object in her hand. The police are again calling for her to drop what she is holding before shooting repeatedly. Authorities later said that a BB gun that looked like a gun had been found next to her.
The lawsuit alleged that Marquez was shot “when she was not facing the agents, when the agents were at a safe distance from her, and when there was no imminent threat of serious injury or death to the agents or others.”
“The situation required de-escalation and multiple options were available to the agents if they were in fact concerned about Ms. Marquez’s well-being,” the lawsuit said. There was no urgency to forcibly remove Mrs. Marquez from her home. Instead of de-escalating the situation, more police officers stormed into her building, ”including one with an AR-22 rifle.
In March, the Los Angeles County district attorney decided not to press charges against two police officers involved in the shooting because they acted legally by firing 12 shots at Marquez because they reasonably believed she posed an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death. .
Marquez made headlines in 2017 when she accused ‘ER’ costar George Clooney of helping her blacklist the series. Clooney has denied the allegations.
In the years before her death, Marquez used social media to refer to her struggles with celiac disease and seizures. She wrote on Facebook in March 2018 that she was “terminally ill”. She had also posted on social media in the months before the fatal encounter about her desire to die and her purchase of an air rifle that looked like a Glock.
Times staff writers Colleen Shalby and Hannah Fry contributed to this report.