Family of Man Killed by Sheriff's Deputies in Cerritos Sues

Family members of a young father who was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy last year in Cerritos when he allegedly used his car to try and run over the lawman sued Los Angeles County today.

The Los Angeles Superior Court suit was filed by Carla Wade, the mother of Nephi Arreguin, on behalf of herself and the decedent’s 5-month-old son, who is identified in the lawsuit only as N.A.

The suit alleges wrongful death, excessive force, assault and battery and civil conspiracy and seeks unspecified damages.

A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Deputies previously said 21-year-old Arreguin was shot and killed last May 7 on Pires Avenue as he attempted to run over the lawman. Deputies said they had been investigating reports of a suspicious couple knocking on doors in the neighborhood.

After he was shot, Arreguin’s car crashed into an electrical box, taking down a light pole and shearing a fire hydrant at Artesia Boulevard and Pires Avenue. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The lawsuit states that Arreguin was shot while he was sitting in the car and that he drove away “after being shot and suffering from the trauma and shock of a gunshot wound.”

Arreguin “was not armed and was not a threat to life or limb of any peace officer or bystander at the time of the shooting,” the suit alleges.

Protesters associated with the group Black Lives Matter went to Cerritos last Memorial Day and briefly stopped traffic during a march to the sheriff’s station in that city to voice their concerns about the Arreguin shooting.

Wade, who lives in Peoria, Ariz., used sign language to express her feelings about her son in news accounts broadcast after his death.

“He was a good man, he was a good person, he didn’t deserve it,” she said then. “Inside and outside, he was a beautiful person. He’s loving, caring, respectful and everything.”

--City News Service, photo via Shutterstock