Lawsuit: Madera police kill man holding a stick. Police say he had machete, shovel handle

A federal civil rights lawsuit says Madera police officers shot and killed a mentally ill man who was merely holding a stick.

But police said Sergio Valdovinos, 31, was armed with a machete, a large shovel handle and a makeshift shield when he was shot a year ago outside his home on Wessmith Way.

A video taken by a bystander could be key evidence once the case goes to trial in U.S. District Court in Fresno.

The video shows four police officers standing next to the garage of Valdovinos' home. Several officers are in the street. Moments later, the four officers rush Valdovinos; one of them curses Valdovinos and yells at him to put his hands up.

Within seconds, eight shots are fired. Valdovinos was later pronounced dead at Madera Community Hospital.

The lawsuit was filed June 22 by Los Angeles civil rights attorney Carl E. Douglas on behalf of Valdovinos' wife, Maribel Shaw. Douglas is best known for being part of the O.J. Simpson's legal team in the so-called Trial of the Century. In 1995, Simpson, a former professional football player and actor, was found not guilty of killing his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.

In a telephone interview last week, Douglas called the police killing of Valdovinos "a horrific shooting" that was witnessed by Valdovinos' mother, Dora Rangel Martinez. Douglas said Valdovinos held a stick and never threatened the officers with it.

Another wrongful death lawsuit is in the works. Los Angeles attorney Scott E. Spell plans to file a lawsuit on behalf of Martinez. Before her son was fatally shot, Martinez videotaped her conversation with police and put it on her Facebook page. (On Facebook, she calls herself Doris Rangel.) In her video, she tells the officers that her son is mentally ill, seldom leaves the house and hasn't taken a shower in more than a year.

"Do what you need to do, but don't shoot him," Martinez pleads with officers. She also tells police that she had been seeking mental health care for her son for more than a year, but says authorities never followed through.

"He's not a normal person. He is sick," Martinez says in her video. "5150 is not normal." 5150 stands for California's Welfare and Institution Code that deems a person is gravely disabled and a danger to himself and others.

Madera Police Chief Dino Lawson declined to comment, saying his department does not comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit identifies the defendants as the city of Madera, Sgt. Josiah Arnold, Sgt. Shawn Bushey and officers Richard Gonzales and Ryan Vasquez.

The shooting happened around 6:25 p.m. June 16, 2017 in a neighborhood near Pan-Am Park at Lake Street and Sherwood Way..

At the time of the shooting, Madera police Lt. Daniel Foss told reporters that officers went to the home on reports of a man using a machete and a large shovel handle to break the window of a neighbor’s vehicle.

There, the officers saw Valdovinos armed with both weapons as he went in and out of his home several times, Foss said.

When officers attempted to confront Valdovinos, he swung the shovel handle at the officers at least three times, Foss said. The lead officer then fired his gun several times, Foss said.

After the shooting, then-Madera Police Chief Steve Frazier held a news conference in which he showed reporters the wooden handle Valdovinos wielded at officers. Valdovinos also possessed a machete, knives, a metal shield and screwdrivers, Frazier said.

At the time, Frazier said two of the four officers who confronted Valdovinos held stun guns. He said the goal was to take Valdovinos into custody in order to protect his neighbors and get him the help he needed.

Asked if shooting Valdovinos was excessive, Frazier said once Valdovinos became combative, officers are trained to "stop the threat."

Douglas, in a telephone interview last week, accused police of escalating the situation by yelling and cursing at Valdovinos "which added to his confusion." Best police practices dictate that officers calmly interact with someone who has a history of mentally illness and going through a crisis, he said.

Douglas said police knew Valdovinos was mentally ill because over the years officers had gone to his home 50 times for calls for service, but Valdovinos never received the help he needed.

Once officers arrived, their training, experience and "reasonable diligence," should have made it clear to them that Valdovinos was "in the midst of some mental health breakdown or mental health crisis which necessitated the intervention by mental health professionals," the lawsuit says.

Instead, the officers "decided to violently and aggressively confront Mr. Valdovinos," the lawsuit says.

Police fired eight rounds at Valdovinos, who died of multiple gunshot wounds, "several of which entered his body from his back," the lawsuit says.

Before he was shot, Douglas said, Valdovinos made no aggressive move or furtive gesture toward the officers, Douglas said. If Valdovinos was waving a stick, the officers were standing far enough away to be out of danger, he said.

At most, Valdovinos had allegedly committed a misdemeanor violation, which doesn't justify deadly force, Douglas said.

"I have been doing civil rights cases for more than 30 years," said Douglas. "Regrettably, their wrongful tactics created a circus that led to deadly force. Regrettably, they did not use the element of time and wait for health officials to arrive."

The lawsuits accuse the defendants of excessive force, negligence, wrongful death, denial of medical care, and unreasonable detention and arrest. Valdovinos' wife is seeking unspecified damages.

Holly Carter, a spokesperson for Spell, said Valdovinos' mother wants her "son's life and death to have meaning."

Carter said Martinez hopes the lawsuit prompts the Madera Police Department and other police agencies to get proper training so they can properly interact with mentally ill people. "She did everything she could to get help for her mentally ill son," Carter said. "She hopes her lawsuit will prevent another family from going through what she has gone through."

This story was originally published July 3, 2018 at 12:55 PM.