‘It’s a close case for me, folks’: Judge considers halting lawsuit filed by mother of man fatally shot by H.B. police

A federal judge Monday issued a tentative ruling that could halt a lawsuit brought against the city of Huntington Beach by the mother of a 29-year-old man who was fatally shot by police last year.

But U.S. District Judge Andrew Guilford stopped short of throwing out the civil-rights case. Instead, he told attorneys he would consider their arguments and render a final decision after completing additional research.

It isn’t clear when that may happen.

“It’s a close case for me, folks,” Guilford said during a court hearing in Santa Ana.

Angela Hernandez filed the lawsuit last year on behalf of her son, Steven Schiltz, who was shot to death by Huntington Beach police officers Trevor Jackson and Casey Thomas on a soccer field at the Huntington Central Park Sports Complex on March 9, 2017.

The suit, which seeks $20 million in damages, alleges wrongful death, excessive force and inadequate training on the part of the officers, as well as negligence and battery. It also alleges that law enforcement failed to call for medical care for Schiltz in a timely manner, resulting in his death.

Attorney Dale Galipo, who is representing Hernandez, said Monday that Schiltz suffered from mental illness and was “clearly acting in some bizarre fashion” but that officers did not have to use lethal force to subdue him.

“Officers should have training in deescalation tactics,” Galipo said, noting that officers at the scene also had Tasers and a police dog.

Attorneys for the city argued in a motion for summary judgment, or a ruling without trial, that the officers were justified in how they handled the call.

Guilford wrote in his 13-page tentative ruling that the city has provided “significant evidence showing that the officers acted reasonably, in defense of the safety of others.”

Police said last year that they went to the complex at about 7:20 p.m. in response to emergency calls about a man with a bat and a broken bottle hitting trees and chasing people around the fields.

Jackson asked Schiltz, who appeared to be holding a sharpened stick, to talk with him, police said. Schiltz refused and began running around a soccer field filled with children and families. Schiltz jumped over a fence, fell onto the concrete and injured himself but continued to run, police said.

A few people on the field chased Schiltz and swung tree branches at him before Jackson told them to stop, according to court records.

Schiltz was at the sports complex to play in a softball game sponsored by the Huntington Beach Adult Softball League. He had marijuana and methamphetamine in his system at the time of his death, according to court filings.

The city contends Schiltz ignored officers’ commands to drop the stick and climbed a set of bleachers and made a “threatening move” toward a woman and her 6-year-old son, according to court documents.

Attorneys for the city argued that Jackson fired at least three shots at Schiltz in an effort to protect the woman and child.

When it appeared Schiltz was getting up to strike the woman, Jackson and Thomas each fired one more shot at him, hitting him in the forehead and the chest, according to court documents.

Galipo, however, argued that Schiltz was “sitting or kneeling” at the time and didn’t make any threatening moves toward the woman or her son.

Galipo also questioned whether the stick was large enough to inflict harm and whether Schiltz was close enough to the woman to justify shots being fired.

“We think these are issues for the jury to decide,” he said.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN