The excessive force federal lawsuit by the mother of Manuel Diaz, who was killed by Anaheim police in 2012, will get a retrial after the U.S. Supreme Court Monday upheld a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling granting the retrial, according to ABC 7 News.
Diaz’s fatal shooting, the sixth police-involved shooting in Anaheim in 2012, caused tension between police and the city’s largely Latino residents to boil over into days of protests against police use of force.
Genevieve Huizar’s federal lawsuit against Officer Nick Bennallack and the city of Anaheim, claims Bennallack used excessive force when he shot and killed 25-year-old Diaz while chasing him through an alleyway in 2012.
The federal appeals court last year overturned a 2014 jury verdict, reached after just two hours of deliberation, that cleared Bennallack of any wrongdoing in the shooting.
The federal court said the jury was improperly influenced by evidence of Diaz’s gang affiliation and drug use, matters that were irrelevant to a decision on whether the police officer who shot Diaz acted recklessly.
Monday’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court upholds that decision. A new civil trial is scheduled for Oct. 24, according to ABC 7.
Contact Thy Vo at tvo@voiceofoc.org or follow her on Twitter @thyanhvo.