$675,000 settlement for family of man killed when charging at deputies with gardening tool

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a $675,000 settlement Tuesday with the family of a man who was fatally shot by two sheriff’s deputies after allegedly stabbing another man with a metal gardening tool in Bellflower and then charging at deputies with the implement.

Edgar Ortiz, 32, of Bellflower, was fatally shot around 12:10 a.m. March 3, 2022, in the area of Artesia Boulevard and Downey Avenue.

According to the sheriff’s department, deputies initially responded to the area on a street racing call.

“While deputies were handling the street racing incident, they were flagged down by a victim who said a suspect had just stabbed him with a garden claw,” sheriff’s officials said in a statement at the time. “The victim immediately pointed to the suspect … and identified him as the person who stabbed him.

“Deputies attempted to detain the suspect, but he fled the scene southbound Downey Avenue on foot. When deputies caught up to the suspect, he turned around and advanced on them while swinging the approximately 3-foot-long garden claw with spikes on the end at them, and a deputy-involved shooting occurred,” the statement said.

Ortiz died at a hospital.

Relatives insisted Ortiz — who was a father of six and had a seventh on the way when he died — was suffering a mental health emergency and shouldn’t have been shot.

The District Attorney’s Office reviewed the shooting and declined to pursue any charges against the deputies involved, concluding “there is insufficient evidence to prove the deputies did not reasonably believe, based on a totality of the circumstances, that deadly force was necessary to defend against a deadly threat then they fired their weapons.”

The family sued the county alleging wrongful death and civil rights violations.

County attorneys recommended the settlement “given the high risks and uncertainties of litigation.”