Family of Unarmed Latino man slain by San Bernardino County Deputy may get less under new deal

The family of a man who was shot and killed by a sheriff's reserve deputy in Fontana in 2003 may get much less than they had sought under a tentative settlement in a $30 million civil lawsuit. A settlement would enable reserve deputy John Monaghan, who is also a prosecutor in Los Angeles County, to address other upcoming cases such as the murder trial for three people charged in the death of Cal Poly Pomona student Christina Burmeister in August 2001. Under the agreement reached Monday, Monaghan would be dismissed from the civil suit, which was filed by the family of Jose Luis Perea in U.S. District Court, in Riverside, in February 2004. But San Bernardino County, which employed the reserve deputy, would pay $220,000 to Perea's two sons and $230,000 to the family's lawyer, according to attorney Eugene Ramirez, who represented Monaghan. The suit claimed Monaghan used excessive force and acted maliciously when he shot and killed Perea during a foot chase through a Fontana pallet yard on Feb. 9, 2003. The San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office cleared Monaghan of any wrongdoing in October 2003. The deal must still be approved by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors and U.S. District Judge Stephen G. Larson. A retrial in the case, which was set to begin Tuesday, was called off by Larson because of the agreement. Larson ruled a mistrial in the first trial when it was learned that jurors had discussed a newspaper article about officer-involved shootings while deliberating in the case. Monaghan told investigators Perea ran a red light, prompting him to follow him. When the deputy stopped Perea, the driver ran into the pallet yard.  Perea had thrown an eyeglass case and a baseball hat at Monaghan during the chase, prompting Monaghan to fire his weapon. While at least two shots missed Perea, a third struck him in the neck, killing him instantly, according to authorities. [MORE]

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