A tentative $2.5-million settlement in officer shooting death of dancer who'd jumped into San Diego Bay

A tentative $2.5-million settlement has been reached in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a Los Angeles  dancer who fell or jumped into San Diego Bay and then was fatally shot during a tussle with Harbor Patrol officers who pulled him from the water.

Steven Paul Hirschfeld, 37, had been hired as a dancer for a nighttime party cruise during gay-pride week in July 2008. After Harbor Patrol officers pulled him aboard their boat, he began fighting, according to an investigation by the San Diego County district attorney's office.

Hirschfeld allegedly grabbed the stun gun from one officer, and a second officer then shot him.

In declining to file charges against the officers, Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis said that Hirschfeld had a history of drug arrests, had steroids and amphetamines in his body and was "acting bizarrely."

Hirschfeld's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit, saying that officers overreacted and should have been able to subdue the dancer without using deadly force.

Lawyers for the San Diego Unified Port District and the Hirschfeld family will go to court Wednesday to have the settlement approved.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

 

Comments

[All Hallows Eve]

grabs the stun gun, gets shot and the city is liable?

what the ...?

[Mike]

Wow~!!!!! as an ex cop and now lawyer, I would taken this case n behalf of the Harbor Patrol and won in court. What kind of incompetent law firm did theyhire. Let me guess, the law firm put very little work into it, did not consult with experts from Los Angeles and decided to settle it and then bill the county another 250,000 in lawyer fees.

Retired Los Angeles Sheriff or LAPD are the only experts that should be used in these cases.

Wow!!!!! min boggling they would settle

[Crazy Horse]

Mike, as a retired officer I have to say your post is speculative at best. You're entitled to your opinion but you don't really know what would've happened. As someone from the LAPD family, I can honestly tell you they are not the only agency that produces outstanding expert witnesses.

[GeezerJohn]

I'm a lawyer, too. And what I read is a rehash of previously published news accounts. Something must have turned up during discovery that made settlement a preferred choice. And I'll bet the record will be sealed so we will never find out what it was.

[Old Cop]

Remeber... He told you he was a cop and then became a lawyer. Three people get paid to lie to you. The Weatherman, A Lawyer and A Hooker and they all do the same thing too you.

[Concerned]

Yep, a dream team of attorneys & experts got side-lined by a Rag-Tag group of ambulance chasers. Nothing like a huge pay-out for a bunch of bad behavior.

Is this JU$TICE at it's finest ? I highly doubt it.