By Police1 Staff
LOS ANGELES — An appellate court ruled Monday that the LAPD SWAT team was not negligent when a 19-month-old girl was shot and killed in 2005 during an attempted hostage rescue.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the case was dismissed in 2009 after Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu found that the officers involved had not been in the wrong in utilizing deadly force.
On Monday, the appellate panel upheld this decision after attorneys for the girl’s mother appealed the case. They were looking for a ruling of police negligence by arguing that the number of shots the SWAT officers fired was too high to be justified.
In 2005, Raul Pena threatened to kill both himself and his daughter, Suzie, as he hid out in a car dealership. Pena was armed, intoxicated, and held his daughter in his arms as he threatened the officers.
A SWAT bullet fired at Pena killed Suzie after the team arrived on the scene to mitigate the crisis. The court found that officers could not possibly have negotiated with Pena due to his state of delirium.
It was decided that the officers used reasonable force as the evidence pointed to Suzie’s life being on the line.
Relative to the threat of Pena, the SWAT officers actions met the circumstances they faced.