Father Files Suit in Killing by Police

The father of a 23-year-old man killed by Oxnard police while hiding in his bedroom closet filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday, alleging that police provoked the confrontation that led to the fatal shooting.

The lawsuit in the death of Robert Lee Jones seeks $50 million in general damages and asks the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles to prohibit Oxnard police from confronting mentally disturbed people because the officers are not properly trained.

Mentally disturbed “individuals will be murdered by Oxnard police,” says the lawsuit by Stephen Yagman, a veteran civil rights lawyer, on behalf of Robert Jones Sr. of Eugene, Ore. “There is a real and immediate threat of serious injury and of death. . . . “

The suit alleges that Oxnard city officials have failed to “rein in” the Police Department, resulting in “repeated instances over many, many years” similar to the Jones shooting. Yagman is asking that a federal judge certify it as a class-action suit.

The fatal shooting two weeks ago was the fifth by an Oxnard officer this year. A sixth suspect was shot by police, but survived. Police have said four of the shooting victims had mental problems.

City Atty. Gary Gillig denied the suit’s claims and labeled them “highly inflammatory and exaggerated.”

“We take these matters seriously and will investigate it,” Gillig said. He said he will place the lawsuit on the City Council’s agenda Tuesday for discussion in a closed session.

“Clearly the City Council is concerned about what’s going on,” he said.

Gillig also noted that Police Chief Art Lopez, responding to the Jones shooting, has conceded that Oxnard officers need more training in dealing with mentally disturbed people and is arranging for it.

Oxnard police have said officers had no choice but to shoot Jones, because their lives were in danger when he moved toward them holding a 13-inch knife.

But they have also said a final determination of whether the shooting was legally justified won’t be made until the Ventura County district attorney’s office and a special state attorney general’s inquiry are completed.

An attorney for Jones’ mother, Ida Perkins, said he expects to file another federal lawsuit against Oxnard police in the next month.

Yagman said Wednesday that Jones was killed because police erred when the young man’s mother, worried that he might hurt himself with a long kitchen knife, called police hoping they would take him to a hospital for treatment.

“One of the easiest questions in the world to answer is what the police should have done,” Yagman said. “They should have backed off completely, and they should have called for professionals trained to deal with these types of situations. Common sense would dictate that backing someone into a closet will result in serious trouble.”

Jones, an artist who was suffering from depression, had seen a psychiatrist a week before he was killed, but had refused to take medication for his problems, his mother said.

The lawsuit alleges that Oxnard police created a confrontation that caused them to use excessive force, and that the Police Department has a history of using deadly force against people who are mentally ill or emotionally disturbed.

“This suit is intended to force the Oxnard Police Department to deal with people who are distraught in a better way,” Yagman said.

Ventura County’s mental health crisis unit is developing a curriculum to train officers from all local police agencies.

“It has to be evident based on all the prior incidents that Oxnard officers need to be trained,” Yagman said. “But in light of that knowledge, nothing has been done so far, and that’s deplorable.”

Police confirmation last week that Jones was pursued after attempting to hide in his own closet prompted criticism by his family and leaders of the Oxnard African American community.

The National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People had already asked for a federal civil rights investigation, alleging that Jones was not only killed unnecessarily, but that he was a victim of racial profiling when arrested twice by Oxnard police earlier this year. He was cleared on one charge and the second was pending.

Lopez has denied that racial profiling is a problem in his department. He said he is aware of only the two complaints filed on behalf of Jones.