A federal jury has awarded a Southern California mother $51.8 million, believed to be the largest verdict in a police shooting case in California history, for the killing of her son by San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies.
Antonio Garza Jr. was shot more than a dozen times at the conclusion of a 35-minute chase from his Yucca Valley home, where he had started a fire, into Palm Springs on Feb. 5, 2023.
After a seven-day civil trial, a federal jury this week unanimously found the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department liable for the actions of Deputies Nicholas Kridner and Bill Abernathy, who were accused of using excessive force, violating Garza’s civil rights and wrongful death in the incident.
“This was an execution of a mentally ill man,” said Garza’s attorney, Rebecca Brown, at a news conference Friday. The Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Deputies fired 14 times at Garza and seven more times after he’d fallen to the ground, according to an independent autopsy presented to jurors at the trial. Garza was struck twice in the back and twice on the ground. The deputies involved in the incident were not wearing body cameras.
But a video recorded by a motorist on Interstate 10 captured part of the shooting, which had followed a chase. The video shows four deputies running after Garza along Interstate 10 in Palm Springs, with Garza facing the deputies several times while holding an object in his hands. At one point, Kridner ordered Garza to show his hands and get on the ground but he ran off with a golf club.
The video showed Garza then turned around and replied, “No, you’re f… going to shoot me, bro,” and began moving toward the deputies.
Garza was shot twice with less-lethal bean bag rounds but did not surrender. When he was fatally shot, Kridner and Abernathy said Garza had raised the golf club above his head and swung it toward Kridner. The two deputies then opened fire on Garza.
County lawyers in defending the case noted an autopsy revealed a large quantity of methamphetamine in Garza’s body.
Jurors also heard about Garza’s previous run-ins with law enforcement — and his family’s struggles to get help from the county with his mental health.
On Feb. 5, 2021, relatives called deputies for a welfare check on Garza, whose mental health had begun to deteriorate. He was arrested that day on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly drove toward deputies.
Family members said they reached out to several independent and government organizations for assistance, including inquiring about a conservatorship of Garza, but they were unsuccessful.
“His mental health continued to decline and he became more paranoid and fearful,” said his sister, Silvia Garza-Littman, after the shooting.
At the same time, Garza did not recognize that he was struggling, and several of the programs declined to offer assistance because he didn’t seek help himself, she said.
In August 2022, Garza was ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial and ordered to be jailed until a bed in a state mental health treatment facility was available. That, however, never happened and an attorney eventually petitioned for his release.
Until 12 days before the shooting, Garza was in the county jail. Garza was released Jan. 24, 2023, and told he needed to find mental health help within 48 hours. When Garza checked into the court-ordered offices, he was told there was a six-month wait list.
“No one would step in to help our brother,” Garza-Littman said. “Instead of helping, they only made things worse.”
Jurors awarded Garza’s mother $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 violations of his civil rights. In addition, the jury found the two deputies acted with reckless disregard and awarded $10 million in punitive damages. It is the largest verdict in state history, according to Garza’s attorneys.
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