Families of domestic violence victims get settlement over Fresno police, attorney says
The city of Fresno has settled a lawsuit that alleged the Fresno Police Department bungled its response to domestic violence that led to the death of one woman and paralyzed another, their attorney said Tuesday.
The $500,000 settlement was reached on behalf of Pamela Motley and Cindy Raygoza, according to attorney Kevin Little.
The city of Fresno and the Fresno City Attorney’s Office did not immediately comment on the settlement, and a Fresno Police Department spokesperson directed questions to the attorney’s office.
Little said a portion of the fees won in the settlement would be directed into a fund for domestic violence education and services.
The families of both women said they saw the settlement as a victory.
“She was loving and giving, and she would be there for anyone,” said Amanda Sylvester, the daughter of Motley. “The time that she needed help, no one was there to protect her.”
Motley was shot in the face by her estranged husband, who was lying in wait for her on April 12, 2014, as she arrived to her parents’ home. He shot her at close range, which would leave her paraplegic, before killing himself.
She used a wheelchair until she died in 2020 after contracting COVID-19, her family said.
The estranged husband, Paul Motley, had admitted to police to being aggressive and in physical confrontations with Pamela Motley, but he wasn’t arrested. Police at the time considered the confrontation “mutual combat,” a court document says.
The harassment was ongoing before he shot her. A 2017 court document says Paul threatened Pamela Motley in person that he would kill her with his gun if she did not return to him by the day she was ultimately shot.
The document also said an officer “was rude, insensitive, made sexist remarks” to Motley and stayed just 10 to 15 minutes. Police have denied making the comments.
Raygoza was killed July 14, 2014, by an ex-boyfriend, Michael Reams, who stabbed her to death. Reams had broken into her home about six months earlier, but Raygoza was able to escape with her life.
A court record said when Raygoza told police she had been a victim of domestic violence in a prior marriage, she said an officer “criticized her choices in men.” Police previously also denied making those statements.
Instead, police told Raygoza to avoid associating with Reams and offered to get her an emergency restraining order, which she declined. She wanted a permanent restraining order, the court record says.
Police told her she would be “crying wolf” if she made more domestic violence reports, her family said. She stopped calling 911.
The day she was killed, neighbors called police but she was dead before they arrived. Responding officers killed Reams.
Raygoza’s daughter Valerie Caldera said her mother always thought of others first and loved helping people.
“It’s just sad she’s not here,” said Caldera, holding back tears. “It’s good that we’re going to be doing a foundation to keep their names alive, and hopefully get the city of Fresno to push the issue to protect victims.”
The lawsuit was filed in 2015 and was rejected in 2017 by U.S. District Court Judge Dale A. Drozd, according to Bee archives. The families appealed that decision before the case was reinstated against the city by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, Little said.
More than 30 women were witnesses of the plaintiffs who alleged substandard responses by Fresno police related to domestic violence calls, Little said. The case was set to go to trial before the settlement in October.
“This case was never about money for them (the family). It was about an acknowledgment of wrongdoing on behalf of the city,” Little said. “This settlement reflects an acknowledgment of wrongdoing.”
The city of Fresno has previously denied any wrongdoing by police, and did not agree to any new training or other requirements beyond the monetary settlement.
Mayor Jerry Dyer was police chief at the time of the killings, and he defended the department when asked in 2015.
“We do everything that we possibly can to combat domestic violence and to prevent people from becoming victims of domestic violence,” Dyer said in 2015.
This story was originally published December 26, 2023 at 2:42 PM.
