Family of man who died after confrontation sues police

Antonio Ibañez allegedly was beaten with batons and shocked

The family of a man who died after a confrontation with Montclair police has sued the city, alleging that Antonio Ibañez was no threat to the officers who the lawsuit says struck him with batons and shocked him with a stun gun until he was left brain-dead.

The wrongful-death lawsuit, filed by attorney Christian Contreras in Superior Court in San Bernardino County, seeks unspecified damages. It names the city and six officers as defendants.

A Montclair Police Department news release issued in March said that on March 5, a 911 caller said Ibañez was holding “an object” and threatening her. The caller was sitting in a car with her daughters and told dispatchers that she thought Ibañez was on drugs. Officers went to a residence in the 4800 block of Silicon Avenue, where they contacted Ibañez in a bedroom. Officers attempted to detain him, and when they did, an unspecified use of force took place.

The lawsuit says Ibañez, 42, was “peacefully in his room of his home and never an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury.” But when police arrived, Ibañez “was assaulted and battered with fists, repeated punches, a baton and subjected to painful electrical surges.”

Contreras said in an interview a week after the confrontation that he spoke with the woman who dialed 911 and said she believed Ibañez was “acting a little bit strange, but she never said she was in danger.”

Ibañez was hospitalized until he died March 19. Montclair police on Wednesday, declined to elaborate on their initial statement. Montclair’s attorneys had not filed a response to the lawsuit in court as of Wednesday.