Jury awards man $1.12 million in Downey police wrongful arrest case
The shootout happened in June 2017. Garcia was arrested even though he claimed police knew who the actual shooter was all along.
DOWNEY, Calif. (KABC) -- A jury found Downey police acted with malice, oppression and fraud when bringing murder charges against a man arrested after a 2017 shootout involving suspected members of a Mexican drug cartel.
Fernando Garcia sued the city and its police department and won his case last week. Garcia was awarded $1.12 million in damages.
"I feel good," Garcia told Eyewitness News on Thursday. "I feel good about it and how the jury went about it and did everything that way they're supposed to."
The shootout happened in June 2017. Garcia was arrested even though he claimed police knew who the actual shooter was all along.
"I think that's indicative of the Downey Police Department and how they conduct themselves in that their pursuit of justice, it's just who they want to arrest as opposed to who actually did the harm," said Garcia's Attorney Anthony Willoughby. "He was harmed more than $1,120,000 and based upon the rulings of the court and what we were able to present, I think the jury did a good job."
The defense attorney did not wish to comment, but in court, he said he's considering to move for a mistrial.
