From Newsgroup: alt.law-enforcement

https://abc7.com/post/verdict-reached-lawsuit-deadly-lapd-shooting-teen- valentina-orellana-peralta-burlington-store-north-hollywood/19058419/

BURBANK, Calif. (KABC) -- A jury in a civil trial found that the Los
Angeles Police Department was not liable in connection with an officer's
fatal shooting of a 14-year-old girl in a Burlington store in North
Hollywood.

The verdict in favor of the LAPD was announced in court Thursday morning.

The wrongful-death lawsuit centered on the death of Valentina Orellana-
Peralta and was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court by her family.

Orellana-Peralta was shopping for Christmas clothes with her mother at a Burlington store in North Hollywood on Dec. 23, 2021, when she was struck
by a bullet that had gone through the dressing room wall.

Police were responding to calls for help after a man wielding a bike lock attacked two women in the building. As armed officers walked through the store, Officer William Dorsey Jones Jr. fired his rifle three times,
killing the man and Orellana-Peralta.

Her mother, Soledad Peralta, "felt her daughter's body go limp and watched helplessly as her daughter died while still in her arms," the lawsuit
stated. It alleged that the LAPD failed to adequately train and supervise
the responding officers and "fostered an environment that allowed and permitted this shooting to occur."

"You don't bring an AR-15 to a bike lock fight," attorney Nick Rowley, who represents the family, told reporters last month.

Early on in the trial, an attorney for the family held up a wooden replica rifle in the courtroom to show jurors the weapon used in the shooting
while body camera video played, capturing chaotic moments just before the gunfire.

The police commission later found parts of the shooting were out of
policy. The California Department of Justice declined to file criminal charges.

The family sought $100 million in damages.

The LAPD declined to comment during the trial, citing pending litigation. Attorneys for the city also declined to speak.

Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto released a statement,
saying "we stand by him, knowing that he has carried the burden of
Valentina's death with him for many years." See the full statement below:

"Today, a jury found that LAPD Officer William Jones was not liable for
the death of 14-year-old Valentina Orellana-Peralta, who was killed when a bullet the officer fired at a violent suspect went through the wall of the Burlington Store in North Hollywood and struck her where she was hiding in
a changing room. The City shares in the grief suffered by her family over
this unimaginable loss.

Society calls upon our police officers to risk their own safety to protect others and run towards danger when others run away. Officer Jones answered that call in pursuit of a violent man threatening bystanders and beating a woman inside the store. We stand by him, knowing that he has carried the burden of Valentina's death with him for many years.

We thank the jury for their professionalism and for setting their
sympathies aside to follow the law and reach the correct conclusion, as difficult a task as that may have been. This event was a horrible tragedy
and every parent's and every law enforcement officer's worst nightmare."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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