Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies sued for wrongful death
Source: San Jose Mercury News
SAN JOSE -- The family of a 61-year-old South Bay woman shot and killed by Santa Clara County sheriffs' deputies last year has sued the department, alleging that the fatal incident involved excessive use of force and negligent law enforcement conduct.
In two separate lawsuits filed Tuesday in federal court in San Jose, the family of Andrea Naharro-Gionet alleges the Nov. 16, 2013 shooting could have been avoided with nonlethal force. The lawsuits, one filed by the woman's husband and the other by her two children, seek unspecified damages for wrongful death and other civil rights violations.
"Andrea Naharro had not committed any crime and there were nonlethal alternatives a reasonable officer would have employed to obtain compliance," one lawsuit contends. "At no time during this incident did (she) use any force against the (deputies) or do anything that would have provided the officers with a legal basis to use force against her."
The lawsuits stem from a confrontation with deputies outside a Cleveland Avenue triplex in an unincorporated area near San Jose. Deputies responded to the scene in the early morning hours after reports of a woman yelling outside the triplex.
Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_26727159/santa-clara-county-sheriffs-deputies-sued-wrongful-death