In recent news, the City of Vallejo settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the family of Angel Ramos. Vallejo police fatally shot Ramos in January 2017.

The Case: Evans v. City of Vallejo

The Court: U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California

The Case No.: 2:17-cv-01619-TLN-AC

The Plaintiff: Evans v. City of Vallejo

The plaintiff in the case is the family of Angel Ramos. Ramos was shot and killed by a Vallejo police officer during a family fight in January 2017. At the time, he was 21 years old. The Vallejo police officers stated that Ramos was holding a knife over another person on the ground, but the Ramos family claimed he did not have a knife.

The Defendant: Evans v. City of Vallejo

The City of Vallejo police responded to a call to the Ramos family’s Sacramento Street home in Vallejo on January 23, 2017, after receiving a call about a fight. Officer Zachary Jacobsen and his partner, Officer Matt Samida, responded to the scene. Jacobsen later said he saw two people fighting on the home’s second-story balcony before he saw Ramos run into the house, get on top of another man on the ground, and make stabbing motions. While the officers claim they fired in response to the perceived danger to the individual on the ground under Ramos, no knife was ever found in the area. Samida later testified that he only saw Ramos punching the man on the ground.

The Case: Evans v. City of Vallejo

The family’s case was bolstered when a federal judge denied the city’s motion for summary judgment in December 2021. Five years after the family filed the original wrongful death lawsuit, the City of Vallejo agreed to a $2.8 million settlement.

If you have questions about how to file a California employment law complaint, please get in touch with Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik DeBlouw LLP. Experienced wrongful death attorneys are ready to assist you in various law firm offices in San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Chicago.