by Liz Mullen
The City of Redondo Beach has settled a years-long court case that alleged city police officers wrongfully shot resident Luke Carlson three times and used excessive force in apprehending his parents.
The amount of the settlement to the plaintiffs in the case, Carlson, his father Jeffrey Carlson. and his mother Jeanne Zimmer, was not known at press time. The shooting occurred Jan. 8, 2019 at the family’s home on the Esplanade in Redondo Beach. Police shot Luke Carlson, who survived, saying they believed he had a gun, although no weapon was found. Redondo Beach City Attorney Mike Webb did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the settlement.
The family’s attorney, Dale Galipo, whose Woodland Hills-based firm specializes in alleged police misconduct cases, also did not return phone calls or an email. Such settlements usually involve confidentiality agreements.
U.S. District court Judge Otis D. Wright II ruled each side would pay its own attorney’s fees and the case was dismissed with prejudice — meaning the plaintiffs may not re-litigate the matter.
A note in the court docket on June 6, 2023 states that Wright ruled, “The parties will file the appropriate dismissal no later than seven (7) days after Plaintiffs receipt of the subject settlement check.”
The defendants — the City of Redondo Beach, and RBPD officers Ryan Crespin, Patrick Knox and Mark Valdivia — sought to have the case dismissed. Judge Wright denied their motion for summary judgment on May 12, 2022.
In his opinion, Wright wrote, “The officers fired lethal gunshots at (Luke) Carlson when he had not, and was not committing any crime, had no weapon, made his empty hands visible to the officers, did not threaten, or move toward the officers, and complied with the officers’ commands — thereby posing no immediate threat to the officers or others.”
Son killed just a ‘working kid’
Police are searching for the killer of Torrance resident Andrei Gianan, 24, who was found shot in the head, in the 1400 block of 11th Street in Manhattan Beach, shortly after midnight on Jan. 1.
The Manhattan Beach Police Department responded to the shooting at 1:23 a.m. Jan. 1, and found Gianan in the street, where he may have been hit by a vehicle, as well as shot, Lt. Omar Camacho of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau told Easy Reader.
“We are trying to focus on suspects and motive,” Camacho said. “There is no motive at this time,” he said.
Gianan, who was known as “Nico,” had worked New Year’s Eve at Wingstop in San Pedro, his family told Fox 11. The family said they presumed he was on his way to a party.
“My son was not a member of anything,” his father Francisco Gianan said. “He was just a working kid, trying to make a living.”
A GoFundMe site has been created in his memory.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.
HBPD has bike, donuts
The Hermosa Beach Police Department is seeking the owner of a “specialized bike” that officers have recovered. The HBPD will return the bike to the person who lost or misplaced it if they have the “proper identifying information to reclaim it.”
The HBPD will host “Coffee with a Cop” at the Hermosa Beach Community Center at 710 Pier Ave. on Wednesday, Jan. 17 from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. “There will most likely be donuts,” the HBPD advised. ER
