North Las Vegas OKs settlement of 2011 deadly police shooting
The North Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday approved a settlement for a deadly police shooting in 2011.
Under the settlement, the city will pay the family of Fernando Sauceda nearly $400,000 to end a lawsuit filed just shy of a year after the shooting.
The shooting occurred minutes into New Years Day in 2011. Sauceda and others were firing their guns into the air to celebrate the new year, according to the family’s lawsuit. Officers patrolling the area went to the home near Carey Avenue and Fifth Street and saw several people outside with guns, according to a Las Vegas Review-Journal report.
Police said all but one person complied with an order to to drop their weapons. According to police, Sauceda pointed a gun at an officer, who tried to disarm him. During an altercation, the officer fired several rounds, killing Sauceda.
The officer, Jeffrey Pollard, did not face criminal charges in the shooting.
In their lawsuit filed with U.S. District Court, Sauceda’s family claimed police crept up on Sauceda and, “without any provocation by Fernando, admonishment or orders to stop, simply shot and killed Fernando.”
Sauceda’s family’s attorney said Sauceda was only trying to protect his family.
North Las Vegas officials recommended approving the settlement in part to save money on a continuing legal battle and to avoid “any potential risk of an adverse verdict.”
Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter.
