Fremont Sued Over Deadly Officer Involved Shooting

FREMONT, CA — Attorney John Burris said he's filing a federal lawsuit today on behalf of the mother of a 16-year-old girl who was fatally shot in Hayward last year by two Fremont police officers while they were trying to arrest her boyfriend, who was wanted for multiple armed robberies.

Elena "Ebbie" Mondragon of Antioch, who was pregnant, was shot near the City View Apartments complex at 25200 Carlos Bee Blvd. near the California State University East Bay campus at about 5:20 p.m. on March 14,
2017.

Mondragon was treated by the Hayward Fire Department at the scene and then was transported to a trauma center, where she died of her injuries.

Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Robert Graff wrote in a recent lengthy report on the shooting that Mondragon's death "was unintended and tragic" and he believes that Fremont Detective Joel Hernandez and Sgt. Jeremy Miskella "acted in lawful" self-defense when they fired shots at suspect Rico Tiger, 19, and struck her instead.

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Graff wrote that the evidence supports the conclusion that Hernandez and Miskella acted "under an actual and reasonable belief" that Tiger posed an immediate threat of death or great bodily injury to themselves and other officers by driving a stolen BMW at them while they were trying to arrest him on a warrant for multiple armed robberies in Fremont, Union City and Santa Clara County.

Two Fremont police detectives who were injured when Tiger allegedly drove into police vehicles were treated and released from a hospital, according to Hayward police, who investigated the incident.

Tiger fled the scene on foot but was arrested in San Francisco the next day.

District Attorney Inspector Jason Riechers wrote in a probable cause statement that when police interviewed Tiger, "he admitted that he ran away from the scene, leaving Ms. Mondragon behind."

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Burris alleged in a news release about the lawsuit that Fremont officers, who were plain-clothed undercover officers from the Southern Alameda County Major Crime Task Force, should have tried to arrest Tiger when he, Mondragon and two other teens were swimming at the City View Apartments complex.

"Inexplicably, the officers did not attempt to take the man (Tiger) into custody during his afternoon of swimming nor while he was walking back to the car but instead waited until the teens to get into a car," Burris said.

"Out of nowhere, an unmarked Dodge minivan and unmarked Honda Pilot pulled in front of the car. Several men jumped out of the unmarked cars with assault rifles and did not identify themselves as police officers and
none of the officers were wearing uniforms," Burris said.

He said Tiger "attempted to escape from the would-be ambush and tried to drive away to safety," but said Miskella and Hernandez "opened fire on the moving car, in violation of department policy."

The attorney said, "Inexplicably, none of the five officers present had their body-worn cameras activated at the time of the shooting."

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Burris alleged that, "Officers engaged in a series of egregious tactical errors and contravened their training and basic common sense, which resulted in an outrageous loss of innocent life."

Riechers wrote that a passenger who was in the stolen BMW told police that it was clear to him that men who were in the Dodge minivan were a police task force because they had the word "police" on their chests.

Riechers wrote that the passenger also told police that he heard Tiger say, "Police, duck down."

In addition, the passenger heard Tiger make a comment about the police having their guns out, according to Riechers.

The Alameda County District Attorney's Office recently charged Tiger with murder for allegedly causing Mondragon's death by acting provocatively and with two counts of the attempted murder of a police officer for allegedly trying to kill Miskella and a colleague, Ghailan Chahouati.

Prosecutors also charged Tiger with vehicular manslaughter for allegedly killing Cristel Antunez-Ayala in a vehicle crash at Bancroft and 90th avenues in East Oakland on Feb. 26, 2017.

Riechers said Tiger was driving a stolen Audi at an estimated 90 mph and alleged that he was fleeing from Oakland police officers who suspected the vehicle was the getaway car used in the Santa Clara robberies.

Riegers said Tiger admitted to police that he was the driver of the stolen Audi that struck and killed Antunez-Ayala.

Tiger currently is in custody in Santa Clara County on a pending criminal case in which he's charged with multiple armed robberies. He will be transported to Alameda County at a later date.

— Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock