Family Of Dijon Kizzee Seek $35M In Damages From LA County For Unreasonable Force
The family of Dijon Kizzee, the 29-year-old Black man who was shot 16 times and killed by Los Angeles County deputy sheriffs in August 2020, has filed a $35 million claim.
According to NBC Los Angeles, the claim alleges that the sheriff’s department failed to properly train the involved deputies. It also accuses them of using an unreasonable and unlawful amount of deadly force.
The claim is largely procedural, CNN reports, one that must be made before a lawsuit can be filed. Family attorney Carl Douglas said he expects the claim to be rejected.
LA deputies reportedly tried to stop Kizzee on August 31 for "riding a bicycle on the wrong side of the road" and "splitting traffic," LA Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau Capt. Kent Wegener said at the time, CNN reports.
Kizzee is accused of picking up a gun that he dropped while riding the bike
before two deputies fired 19 rounds at him, CNN writes. But an attorney for the Kizzee family says the video shows Kizzee running away from officers.
The family’s claim states that the deputies on duty that day “negligently, carelessly, and mistakenly investigated the presence of Mr. Kizzee who continued riding his bicycle away from them, and negligently concluded that Mr. Kizzee posed a serious threat to their safety, necessitating the use of deadly force against him.”
Douglas also confirmed that a lawsuit on behalf Kizzee’s estate and his father is expected to be filed in the summer to the state court.
"With the filing of this $35 million claim, we intend to bring a bright light on the virus that is raging in South Los Angeles and the vaccine for that virus is truth," Douglas said, according to CNN.