California Family of Black Man Shot In the Back by Deputies Wins $30.5M Award After Sheriff’s Office Made Lowball Offers
California sheriff’s deputies from Kern County claimed they shot and killed Mickel Lewis during a traffic stop in 2020 after the 39-year-old Black man reached under his seat, then came charging towards a deputy with his hand behind his back, threatening to kill him, making the deputy fear for his life.
Kern County sheriff deputy Jason Ayala fired five shots, two of them striking Lewis in the back, one in his side and two in his torso. But Lewis never had a gun.
And the lawsuit filed by his three children in 2021 said that he was only following orders when the deputy ordered him to walk to the back of his car before shooting and killing him.
Last week, a federal jury awarded Lewis’ family $30.5 million, which their attorneys say is the second-highest jury award for a police shooting death in California.
Usually, these cases never make it to trial because the law enforcement agencies agree to a settlement beforehand but in this case, the Kern County sheriff’s office refused to offer an adequate settlement, attorneys for Lewis’ family told local media.
“They believed that the jury pool was going to be racist and pro-cop,” Los Angeles attorney, Toni Jaramilla, told Vanguard News Group. “That they would just believe, ‘Oh, if you’re pulling over a Black man, he must be a thug.’ But the jury saw through it.”
Bernard Alexander, another attorney helping with the case, agreed with Jaramilla.
“There was never a point that a reasonable settlement offer was made,” he told Vanguard News Group. “There was always an assumption that killing this citizen was of no consequence.”
“When you don’t value the life of everyone, the consequence is you undervalue what a jury would do.”
Dale K. Galipo, the lead trial attorney for the Lewis family, was the attorney who secured the highest police shooting jury award in California – $33.5 million in the 2015 shooting of Nathaniel Pickett.
“I’m very pleased with the jury verdict and thankful to the jurors for giving justice and fair compensation for the family of Mickel Lewis Sr.,” he told Vanguard News Group.
In 2018, an audio recording was released revealing Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood saying it was “financially better” for cops to kill suspects instead of just injuring them.
Youngblood claimed that he had been misquoted in the recording that had been made in 2006, the year Youngblood was first elected as sheriff, a job he has held ever since.
The Shooting
Deputy Ayala claimed he had been investigating Lewis after a confidential informant told him the Black man was in possession of a gun while on probation which they say allowed them to search him at any time.
On October 2, 2020, Ayala was in an unmarked car surveilling Lewis as he was driving his car through a drive-thru of a Wienerschnitzel, a fast food restaurant specializing in hot dogs where his daughter, Briona Lewis, was employed.
Ayala then pulled Lewis over, ordering him out of the car to conduct a pat search for weapons and Lewis complied with these orders.
However, when Ayala told Lewis he would search the car for guns, Lewis took off running but then returned for his keys.
According to the lawsuit filed by Jaramilla on March 19, 2021, where Lewis is described as the “decedent”:
Ultimately, while DECEDENT was standing in the open car door of his vehicle with his back facing AYALA, AYALA issued a command that DECEDENT turn and walk toward the rear of DECEDENT’s vehicle where AYALA was standing well over a car-length away.
In response to AYALA’s command, DECEDENT began to turn in the direction of AYALA. However, before DECEDENT was fully turned, without provocation and despite DECEDENT being unarmed with his hands up in surrender, AYALA shot DECEDENT six times: three times in the back; once in the side, and two bullets entering the front of DECEDENT’s torso.
At no time did this unarmed DECEDENT pose a threat of serious bodily injury or death to AYALA.
It has since been determined the deputy fired five times, not six, with two bullets striking Lewis in the back instead of three.
The Kern County Sheriff’s Office provided a different version, according to court documents:
Lewis returned to his vehicle and charged at Deputy Ayala forcing him to retreat. Lewis went to the driver’s side door of the Lewis vehicle and began to dig under the driver’s seat.
Deputy Ayala drew his sidearm, and Lewis stepped out of the vehicle with his right hand behind his back. Lewis stated, “you’re going to have to kill me” and “you’re going to die, ” then sprinted towards Deputy Ayala.
Deputy Ayala retreated, but when he saw Lewis bring his arm forward from behind his back, he believed Lewis was going to shoot him. Deputy Ayala fired his weapon five times, fatally wounding Lewis.
The Aftermath
The lawsuit states that Ayala refused to provide life-saving measures after shooting Lewis and that he ended up dying in front of his daughter, Briona Lewis, who had walked out of the Wienerschnitzel.
The claim also states that Kern County sheriff’s deputies engaged in intimidation and harassing tactics in the days following the shooting by driving around the shooting scene in circles where family members had gathered to place flowers; mocking, laughing and glaring at those mourning the loss of their loved one.
The claim also accuses deputies of “threatening witnesses not to communicate or cooperate with PLAINTIFFS or their counsel in collecting video evidence or statements from adjacent business establishments; and following Plaintiffs and DECEDENT’s loved ones home from the memorial.”
But it was the witnesses that led to the jury siding with the Lewis family in the five-day trial where the jury deliberated for four-and-a-half hours before arriving at its decision.
“The objective witnesses said that (Lewis) had his hands visible where nothing was inside of his hands,” Alexander, the attorney, told Vanguard News Group.
