Family files $25 million claim against Pasco for shooting death

The widow of Antonio Zambrano-Montes, who was fatally shot by Pasco police earlier this week, has filed a $25 million claim for damages with the city.

A claim is a precursor to a lawsuit. The city has 60 days to respond.

George Paul Trejo Jr., the Yakima-based attorney for widow Teresa De Jesus Meraz Ruiz, said a civil lawsuit is a way to seek justice.

“When you suffer the loss of a loved one due to the wrongdoing of another or others, our system of justice only provides one means of righting that wrong — and that’s through monetary damages,” Trejo said.

“(Zambrano-Montes’) children will never again have the opportunity to have their father around.”

Ruiz and her 12- and 15-year-old daughters “are hurting,” Trejo said. “They’re hurting, especially the daughters. They lost their dad.”

The six-page claim, filed Friday, says Zambrano-Montes “posed no danger to the three officers, such that they were justified in the use of deadly force” when he was “shot and killed, execution style.”

It also says, “The conduct of the three police officers of the City of Pasco, both in firing at Mr. Zambrano-Montes as he walked across the street, and thereafter shooting him and killing him once he (crossed) the street, was excessive force in violation of state and federal authority, and was an unjustified use of deadly force against a person whose conduct was in throwing rocks at an earlier time, prior to the shooting.”

The claim also says the city is liable for inadequate training and supervision of the officers, retaining officers “who had a proven history of violation of civil rights against the Latino/Hispanic community, specifically Officer Ryan Flanagan, and for “allowing and fostering overt racial (animus) towards the Hispanic/Latino community within the Pasco Police Department.”

Flanagan and another officer were accused in 2009 of racial profiling and excessive force over an incident involving an Hispanic woman. The city settled a lawsuit for $100,000.

Ruiz and the daughters live California. Attorneys Kent Henderson and Angel Carrazco Jr., based in California, are working with Trejo on the case.

Meanwhile, some of Zambrano-Montes’ Tri-City relatives met with attorneys Friday about the possibility of legal action, said Felix Vargas, who’s advising the family. They hope to work with Ruiz.

Pasco Mayor Matt Watkins told the Herald on Friday that he hadn’t seen the claim, and so he couldn’t comment on it.

Watkins and other members of the city council met with the city manager, police chief, city attorney and special counsel behind closed doors Friday to discuss potential or pending litigation. The session lasted about 30 minutes. The council returned to open session and didn’t make any decisions.

Councilwoman Rebecca Francik was absent.

Watkins expects it could take the Tri-City Special Investigations Unit — the multi-agency team looking into the shooting — months to gather all the information needed to determine what happened.

“The council wants to understand all of the facts,” he said. “Our hearts do go out to all members of the community. We are members of this community, and we will be interested in the pursuit of truth and the process.”

This story was originally published February 13, 2015 at 2:08 PM with the headline "Family files $25 million claim against Pasco for shooting death."