Quick-Read Summary: Los Angeles Partners Tony Sain and Tori Bakken and their team obtained a favorable result for the Riverside County Sheriff's Department in a federal jury trial in a police/civil rights case stemming from a defendant deputy's fatal shooting of an individual in an auto parts store in 2022. The jury awarded the plaintiffs just $172.5K, about 5.75% of their $3 million demand, and issued a defense verdict on the plaintiffs' due process, Bane Act, and punitive damages claims.
Los Angeles, Calif. (October 27, 2025) - Los Angeles Partners Tony Sain and Tori Bakken and their team won a mixed verdict in a federal jury trial in Santa Ana for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, on a hard-fought police/civil rights case arising from a fatal shooting, in what was a big win for the defense.
In July 2022, a middle-aged man had entered an auto parts store and told the staff that he was armed with a gun, and that if they called the police, he might not hurt any “innocent” people. When three Riverside County Sheriff’s Department officers then arrived and started giving the man at-gunpoint commands to pull his hand out of his pocket slowly, warning him not to pull out a gun, to get down on the ground and to stop moving – after he had admitted that he was armed with a gun and asked one of the deputies to shoot him - the man then did a quick gun-draw move, pulling out a shiny silver/metallic object and pointing at the defendant deputy as he advanced. In that moment, not only the defendant deputy, but all the other four witnesses to that event (including two other deputies and two civilians from the auto parts store), believed that the man was about to shoot the defendant deputy. Fearing for his life, the defendant deputy then fired a single shot from his shotgun, in self-defense.
At trial, the defense team had to overcome several unfavorable evidentiary rulings, including the admission of evidence that was unknown to the defendant deputy, or any other shooting incident witness, at the time: that the object used in the suspect’s gun-draw move was not a gun, but was instead a razor handle.
Yet, in the face of plaintiffs’ demand for no less than $3 million in damages, an initially-evenly-split jury settled on a “plaintiffs’ verdict” on the main force claims. But, even then, the jury awarded only $150K in non-negligence damages; only $150K in negligence damages; and it found decedent 85% liable on the negligence claims, resulting in a total award of only $172.5K – which was about 5.75% of the damages the plaintiffs sought. Additionally, the jury issued a defense verdict on the due process, Bane Act, and punitive damages claims.
As a result, the client was thrilled that, even on a case with the procedural deck stacked against the defense, the Sain-led defense team still pulled off a big win!