Family of man fatally shot during standoff sues Chula Vista police

The family of a retired Navy medic and Iraq war veteran who was fatally shot during a standoff with Chula Vista police last year is suing the department, alleging excessive force, negligence and wrongful death.

The suit, filed earlier this week in San Diego federal court, also names the department chief and the three officers who fired AR-15s at Carlos Enriquez, 56. His family said he was intoxicated and in a mental health crisis when they called police for help April 19. Enriquez, who had a gun, was shot 16 times.

Chula Vista officials declined comment on the suit, citing the active litigation.

Earlier this year, Enriquez’s widow, daughter and others joined attorney Eugene Iredale at a news conference to demand that Chula Vista police release to them video footage of the incident. Iredale said Friday the family’s attorneys were subsequently allowed to view the raw footage, but not make copies of it.

Based on that review, Iredale said, the circumstances “demanded” that the family sue.  A few weeks after the news conference, in June, police released a nearly 17-minute video of the encounter. The release was within the 45-day window that California requires law enforcement to release such footage.

The suit alleges that police “repeatedly failed to de-escalate” the situation, and that Enriquez had not threatened anyone. “His responses and demeanor clearly demonstrated that any failure to follow instructions resulted from intoxication and confusion rather than intentional noncompliance or any intent to threaten or harm others,” it alleges.

Enriquez “suffered from significant mental health issues stemming from his service as a combat medic,” according to the filing from attorneys Steve Hoffman, Julia Yoo and Iredale.

The 41-page filing details the early morning encounter between Enriquez and police outside his Bonita home. It says that recent difficulties had triggered a mental health crisis, and he had been drinking heavily. Fearing he might harm himself, his family fled and called 911. “He has a gun,” his wife told a dispatcher, in audio released from the incident. “He tried to kill me.”

More officers were called in, and the department sent out its Bearcat armored vehicle and a drone.

In a news release shortly after the incident, San Diego police homicide Lt. Jon Dungan said Enriquez was in front of his home, his hands in his pockets. Chula Vista police ordered him to put his hands up. (Under a countywide agreement, San Diego police investigate shootings by other policing agencies in the region.)

When Enriquez pulled his hands out of his pockets, he dropped a firearm, Dungan said. Chula Vista officers ordered him to walk away from the gun, “but he instead sat down and put the handgun on his lap.”

The suit alleges that Enriquez was visibly intoxicated, staggering and had difficulty standing. He was so intoxicated, it said, that he could not stand after sitting on a step in front of the home. It also says that Enriquez told officers he was not going to shoot anyone.

Dungan said in the release that after Enriquez failed for several minutes to put his hands up, he was shot once with a beanbag round. It knocked him back, and the gun fell out of his lap.

The suit alleges that police gave Enriquez only a four-second warning before firing that beanbag shot — not enough time for a heavily intoxicated person to comply. The suit also alleges that striking him with a beanbag “quickly escalated what was a static situation.”

While Enriquez was still down, he picked up the gun, according to police and the lawsuit. The video shows him roll over, grab the gun and raise it while still on his back. Officer Alfonso Perdomo, Officer Roman Buyson and Agent Thomas Luhta opened fire.

Police said earlier this year that Enriquez had pointed the weapon at them. The suit states he “was not pointing the gun at anyone, and he lacked the capacity to train his gun on anyone.”

“He had threatened no one and harmed no one, and showed no intent to harm anyone,” the suit reads. “There was no need for lethal force to be used.”

The filing notes that two of the officers who shot Enriquez had each been part of separate prior incidents that resulted in the death of a person in a mental health crisis. The District Attorney’s Office cleared both officers of any criminal liability.