Family of Former Policeman Shot by FBI Agents in Chase Sues U.S.

SANTA ANA —  The family of Kevin D. Arnold, the former Fountain Valley police officer who was shot to death by FBI agents pursuing him as a robbery suspect, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Friday against the federal government.

The suit filed in Orange County Superior Court claims that agents acted improperly when one of them shot the unarmed Arnold, 34, in July 1995 as he sat in a car in a Mission Viejo shopping center parking lot.

The agents had cornered Arnold and were trying to take him into custody in connection with a string of 12 bank robberies in Orange and San Diego counties that involved about $32,000, authorities said.

The FBI has maintained that Arnold forced the violent confrontation that led to his death. In the suit filed by Arnold’s widow and four children, however, the slain man’s family claims that agents were reckless and unprofessional, unnecessarily causing Arnold’s death.

Arnold had been a decorated officer with the Fountain Valley Police Department, but in December 1994 he was convicted of embezzling $40,000 from the police officers’ union.

The suit filed Friday does not specify the damages being sought, but the family filed an unsuccessful claim for $9 million with the federal government in August 1995.