$21 million award for family of teen killed by officers
A federal jury in San Jose on Friday awarded $21 million to the family of a pregnant teen who was shot and killed by undercover Fremont police officers in 2017, in what the family described as “a botched covert arrest operation.”
Elena Mondragon of Antioch was sitting in the passenger seat of a BMW pulling out of an apartment complex in Hayward when an unmarked van filled with officers tried to cut it off in March 2017, according to a complaint filed by the teen’s family. At the time, Fremont police said that the driver had rammed the car into the officers’ van.
The driver, who was apparently wanted by police, immediately fled, and the officers fired at the vehicle.
Elena was shot four times. She was 16 and in her first trimester of pregnancy.
“It’s a tremendous verdict for the family,” said attorney John Burris, who represented the plaintiffs in the civil rights and wrongful death case, along with lead attorney Adante Pointer, Melissa Nold and Patrick Buelna.
Fremont spokesperson Geneva Bosques said Saturday, “The city is aware of the jury verdict, and we have no further comment at this time.”
Burris and Pointer said the jury decided to split culpability between the man driving the car and the officers, so that the city of Fremont will probably supply about $10 million of the award. The case took several years grinding through court, in part because of the complexity of the shooting. It hinged on a particularly contentious issue in modern policing: whether officers should fire into moving cars.
“From our standpoint, before the trial the city took the position that it was 0% responsible,” Pointer told The Chronicle, striking a jubilant tone hours after the announcement of the verdict.
In 2018, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office concluded that the fatal shooting was justified. In a 30page report, a deputy district attorney wrote that the officers “acted in lawful” self-defense when they fired their weapons and said the teen’s death was “unintended and tragic.”