SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal jury awarded $21 million to the household of a pregnant teen who was shot and killed by undercover police officers in Northern California 5 years in the past, attorneys stated.
Elena Mondragon was a passenger in a BMW pulling out of a Hayward house advanced when an unmarked van full of Fremont police officers tried to chop it off in March 2017, in response to a criticism filed by the teen’s household. At the time, Fremont police stated the BMW’s driver, who was apparently wished by police, had rammed the automobile into the van.
Police opened fireplace and fatally wounded Mondragon, who was a passenger. She was 16 and in her first trimester of being pregnant.
Her household’s civil rights and wrongful dying criticism described the killing as “a botched covert arrest operation,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The jury’s choice on Friday was “a tremendous verdict for the family,” stated plaintiffs’ legal professional John Burris.
Burris stated the jury determined to separate culpability between the person driving the automobile and the officers, in order that town of Fremont will probably provide about $10 million of the award.
Fremont officers didn’t instantly touch upon the jury’s choice.
In 2018, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office concluded that the deadly police capturing was justified.