Man suing Fontana police for alleged assault following brief chase

FONTANA, Calif. (KABC) -- "Mr. Kinard should not be dead," said attorney Humberto Guizar. "He was shot in cold blood as was shown in the video released by the city of Fontana."

Guizar is talking about video from February showing Fontana police looking for a burglary suspect. An officer eventually finds a man matching the description and fatally shoots him.

Fontana police just settled a lawsuit with the family for $1 million.

"The city of Fontana thinks they can throw $1 million at Mr. Kinard's family and have this swept under the rug," said attorney Christian Contreras.

However, the two attorneys speaking in front of City Hall on Tuesday had nothing to do with that case. They're representing Juan Gonzalez, who they say was attacked by the same Fontana police officer four months prior to the shooting.

It started outside a restaurant last year, where police body cam video shows police approaching the suspect. Police say it was a domestic dispute between Gonzalez and his wife, who allegedly discovered him having drinks with a co-worker.

"We exchanged words with one another, and I guess the waitress called the cops, but there was no crime scene, so I got up and left," said Gonzalez.

Police say when they approached Gonzalez, who was in his vehicle, he drove away and stopped minutes later after a brief pursuit.

"I was going to get on the ground, but he didn't give me that much time to get on the ground," said Gonzalez.

Gonzalez is now suing Fontana police.

"It was a beating, it was an unlawful assault and that officer should be prosecuted. And if they would have prosecuted him, at least terminated him, he would not have killed this other kid. This other kid would be alive," Guizar said.

Fontana police released this statement, "It is incredibly unfortunate the Law Offices of GUIZAR, HENDERSON & CARRAZCO are using the death of Mr. Kinard in an attempt to promote their allegations against officers of the Fontana Police Department. These are independent cases, each having countless differing circumstances. Each case requires officers to respond accordingly. These cases are in no way related and should not be treated as such."