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City settles police shooting lawsuit
Agrees to pay sisters of Red Lake Reservation man

REDONDO BEACH CA
Originally published by the Native American Times and Associated Press 1/7/2005

A California police department has agreed to pay $500,000 to the siblings of an Indian man killed after a high-speed chase.

Nathan Lee Rossbach, 40, died Oct. 6, 2002, near Los Angeles International Airport. His sisters filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city a year later, alleging officials with the Redondo Beach Police Department acted with negligence and used unjustified force.

Police called it a tragic mistake.

Rossbach was a member of the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Red Lake, Minn.

In the settlement approved by the Redondo Beach City Council, Rossbach's sisters, Trudy Cook and Mamie Rossbach will divide the $500,000.

Both sisters still live on the reservation. Neither has a residence listing.

" I have had a request from my clients to keep this matter as quite as possible," the sisters' attorney, David Rosenthal of Sacramento, told the Native American Times. "They are relieved that the litigation aspect of this matter is over with and now they can begin to heal from the emotional damage of losing their brother."

Rossbach was out of prison for less than three weeks when he was shot in a stolen 1992 Ford Bronco at the end of the chase. An officer was attempting to subdue him with a so-called less-than-lethal beanbag round so they could pull him from the car, investigators said. Officer Michael Martinez passed a 12-gauge shotgun to Officer Michael Strosnider, who fired and then realized the gun was loaded with live ammunition.Most police departments at the time marked their beanbag shotguns with painted rings or colored tape so officers would avoid picking up the wrong weapon. Since the Rossbach shooting, Redondo officers have covered the stocks and forearms of the shotguns with fluorescent orange paint, Sgt. Phil Keenan said.

Rosenthal said the sisters were happy that the suit caused the police department to institute a change of policy.