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Kern County to pay $1 million for killing by deputies

by Bakersfield Californian
The Kern County Board of Supervisors approved a $1 million settlement Tuesday to the family of a man shot to death by sheriff's deputies during a 1998 standoff in Sand Canyon northeast of Tehachapi.

County to pay $1 million for killing by deputies

By JESSICA LOGAN, Californian staff writer
e-mail: jlogan [at] bakersfield.com

Posted: Tuesday January 11th, 2005, 11:30 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday January 12th, 2005, 9:02 AM

The Kern County Board of Supervisors approved a $1 million settlement Tuesday to the family of a man shot to death by sheriff's deputies during a 1998 standoff in Sand Canyon northeast of Tehachapi.

KW Associates, Realtors
Lyle Federman, a 43-year-old computer programmer with no criminal history, was shot to death by sheriff's deputies during an altercation.

Federman fired off a few rounds with a rifle during a standoff and deputies said he was handling a knife as they tried to take him into custody, and they shot him to death.

The shooting was ruled justified at the time, but Sheriff Mack Wimbish said the department has since changed its policy.

"With our policy today, they would not enter the house," Wimbish said.

Deputy County Counsel James Thebeau said deputies are not allowed to enter a person's house just because they believe he has mental problems.

He said this legality forced him to take a settlement rather than risk a higher amount if the case went to a jury.

He noted that an earlier decision from the court made him believe he may not win at trial.

"We believed all along the officers' actions were justified but sometimes you get an unfavorable ruling," Thebeau said.

The deputies said they wanted to bring Federman in for an involuntary 72-hour evaluation when they stormed his home.

John Burton, the attorney for Federman's family, argued that the deputies shouldn't have called in the SWAT team simply to detain him for a mental evaluation.

"The individual defendants deployed a SWAT team, culminating in an over-the-top warrantless surprise entry of a private home, solely to extract a mentally ill man threatening to no one," Burton wrote in a document filed with the court.

Federman's widow, Chedva, and their three children, who are now adults, filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Fresno. They alleged wrongful death, depravation of familial relationships, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The case was filed in 1999 and was about to go to trial.

Chedva Federman declined comment.

The lawsuit named former Sheriff Carl Sparks as a defendant because he was the head of the department at the time of the shooting.

"If someone runs at them with a knife, deputy sheriffs are going to shoot them," Sparks said Tuesday. "You can feel sorry and put every precaution from being in that situation, but (deputies have to use lethal force) once you're in that situation."

A judge summarized many of the facts of the case and noted that the following was not in dispute:

The incident started April 21, 1998, when Federman's neighbors noticed he was burning brush outside his house and called deputies.

The neighbors noticed Federman behaving erratically in the past and were concerned he would start a serious fire.

When deputies arrived they noticed Federman was behaving strangely and wanted to take him to the hospital for a mental evaluation.

They realized that he would not surrender without a struggle and called the SWAT team. After several hours, the deputies used pepper spray on Federman and he fired off a round from a gun. The deputies decided to break into the house and detain him.

As the SWAT team entered the house, Federman fired off at least one more round, and the deputies retreated. Deputies fired tear gas into the house and Federman dropped the guns.

One of the deputies fired wooden dowel rounds. Before he was finished firing the rounds, three other deputies fired on and killed Federman. The deputies who fired were Mike Kirkland, Larry Studer and Joe Lopetequy.

The three deputies were named in the suit, as were more than a dozen others. Some of the deputies said they believed Federman was rushing at them with a knife.

Sheriff's detectives investigated the incident and declared that the deputies involved behaved appropriately.
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