圣贝纳迪诺县警员枪杀精神疾病男子案：联邦陪审团判赔5180万美元，家属律师称系加州警员枪击案最高裁决
一个联邦陪审团本周裁定，圣贝纳迪诺县须向 Antonio Garza Jr. 的母亲支付5180万美元。Garza 家住加州圣贝纳迪诺县 Yucca Valley，2023年他在家中起火后遭县警长办公室警员追逐至 Palm Springs，被开枪打死。家属律师称，这是加州历史上警员枪击案最高的陪审团裁决。（GSM 据美联社、洛杉矶时报报道）
经过七天的民事审理，陪审团一致认定，圣贝纳迪诺县警长办公室须为警员 Nicholas Kridner 与 Bill Abernathy 的行为负责，裁定两人过度使用武力、侵犯 Garza 的民权，并对他的死亡负有责任。裁决金额包括：付给其母亲的情感痛苦赔偿800万美元、丧失亲情1000万美元、未来生活乐趣损失800万美元、精神痛苦200万美元、身体痛苦600万美元、收入损失280万美元与民权侵害赔偿500万美元；陪审团另认定两名警员行事鲁莽漠视，加判1000万美元惩罚性赔偿，合计5180万美元。
案发于2023年2月5日。时年35岁的 Garza 在 Yucca Valley 的家中起火，警员随后展开约35分钟的追逐，一路追至 Palm Springs 的10号州际公路一带，Garza 身中十余枪身亡。呈交陪审团的独立尸检报告称，警员向 Garza 开了14枪，在他倒地后又开了7枪；他背部中了两枪，倒地后又中两枪。涉事警员当时没有佩戴执法记录仪。
一名驾车者拍下的视频记录了部分过程：四名警员在高速公路上追赶 Garza，他多次转身面对警员、手持物件；Kridner 曾命令他举起双手、趴到地上，他手持高尔夫球杆跑开，其后又转身向警员走去。Garza 两次被低致命性的豆袋弹击中，仍未投降。Kridner 与 Abernathy 表示，开枪时 Garza 正把高尔夫球杆举过头顶、朝 Kridner 挥去，两人随即开火。
县方律师在庭上指出，尸检显示 Garza 体内含有大量甲基苯丙胺。陪审团同时听取了 Garza 此前与执法部门发生冲突的记录，以及家属多年来为他向县政府寻求精神健康帮助的经过。Garza 的家人 Garza-Littman 说：「没有人愿意站出来帮助我们的哥哥，他们只让事情变得更糟。」家属律师 Rebecca Brown 周五在记者会上说，这起枪击是「对一名精神病患者的处决」。据洛杉矶时报报道，圣贝纳迪诺县警长办公室没有立即回应置评请求。家属还呼吁加州总检察长对涉事警员提出刑事指控。
Jury Awards $51.8 Million Over San Bernardino Deputies' Fatal Shooting of Mentally Ill Man: Family's Lawyers Call It California's Largest Police-Shooting Verdict
A federal jury this week awarded $51.8 million to the mother of Antonio Garza Jr., who was shot and killed by San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies in 2023 after a chase from his Yucca Valley home, in San Bernardino County, California, to Palm Springs. The family's attorneys say it is the largest jury verdict in a police shooting case in California history. (GSM, via the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times)
After a seven-day civil trial, the jury unanimously found the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department liable for the actions of Deputies Nicholas Kridner and Bill Abernathy, concluding that they used excessive force, violated Garza's civil rights and were responsible for his wrongful death. The award to his mother includes $8 million for emotional pain and suffering, $10 million for loss of love, $8 million for future loss of enjoyment, $2 million for mental pain, $6 million for physical pain, $2.8 million in lost earnings and $5 million for the civil rights violations. The jury also found the two deputies acted with reckless disregard and added $10 million in punitive damages, for a total of $51.8 million.
The shooting happened on February 5, 2023. Garza, 35, was chased from his Yucca Valley home, where he had started a fire, in a pursuit lasting about 35 minutes that ended along Interstate 10 in Palm Springs, where he was shot more than a dozen times. An independent autopsy presented to jurors said deputies fired 14 shots at Garza and seven more after he fell to the ground; he was hit twice in the back and twice while on the ground. The deputies involved were not wearing body cameras.
Video recorded by a motorist captured part of the encounter: four deputies ran after Garza along the freeway as he faced them several times holding an object. At one point Kridner ordered him to show his hands and get on the ground, but Garza ran off holding a golf club, then turned and walked toward the deputies. He was hit twice with less-lethal bean bag rounds but did not surrender. Kridner and Abernathy said Garza had raised the golf club above his head and swung it toward Kridner when they opened fire.
County lawyers noted at trial that an autopsy found a large quantity of methamphetamine in Garza's body. Jurors also heard about his previous run-ins with law enforcement and his family's struggles to get him mental health help from the county. "No one would step in to help our brother," a family member, Garza-Littman, said. "Instead of helping, they only made things worse." The family's attorney, Rebecca Brown, said at a news conference on Friday that the shooting was "the execution of a mentally ill man." The Sheriff's Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the Los Angeles Times reported. The family is also calling on California's attorney general to file criminal charges against the deputies.
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：位于加州 San Bernardino 的圣贝纳迪诺县政府中心（San Bernardino County Government Center）；本案被判承担赔偿责任的县警长办公室同属该县政府。照片：Xnatedawgx，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The San Bernardino County Government Center in San Bernardino, California; the county Sheriff's Department held liable in this case is part of the same county government. Photo: Xnatedawgx, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
