Lancaster police station
READING - The City of Lancaster and a police officer have defeated allegations they were at fault for a fatal shooting that sparked community outage.
Karson Arnold shot and killed 27-year-old Ricardo Munoz in September 2020 as Munoz charged him with a knife. His family said Munoz was experiencing a mental health episode, while Arnold has since been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing.
Judge Jeffrey Schmehl had already dismissed the excessive force claim. Only two of the original 11 claims in the case remain following his Aug. 4 ruling dismissing six allegations. Notably gone is the assertion Lancaster failed to train and supervise its officers handling mental-health crises.
Munoz's mother, Miguelina Pena, was required to show Lancaster had a history of mishandling these situations.
"Yet Ms. Pena offers no evidence of any such prior incident," Judge Schmehl wrote.
"She presents no evidence suggesting that Officer Arnold - or, for that matter, any officer LCBP - has ever previously mishandled a mental-health crisis with or without excessive force."
A "single-incident" theory of liability could've saved the claim but didn't. Pena said the City could've provided additional training on mental-health episodes, which Schmehl called a "should-have-done-better argument."
Arnold responded to a domestic disturbance on Laurel Street and was met by Munoz, who emerged from the residence armed with a knife. Munoz rushed the officer, who shot him four times.
The shooting occurred around 4 p.m. but additional officers responding to the scene canceled an ambulance, the suit says. Munoz received medical attention at 6:20 and was pronounced dead 15 minutes later.
Around 100 protesters gathered at the Lancaster Police Station in the aftermath. They proceeded up an access ramp and refused to leave until being fired upon with foam projectiles.
Lancaster arrested 16 people. Pena made a wide array of civil rights claims in the ensuing lawsuit, among which she alleged police slammed her against a patrol car and unlawfully detained her at the police station.
Her unlawful detention claim survived Schmehl's ruling, as did the allegation Pena was denied medical care after the shooting.
"The Court concludes that a prompt request for medical aid, while relevant, does not foreclose a finding of deliberate indifference as a matter of law... and that the adequacy of Officer Arnold's response is clearly a question for trial."
Dismissed were claims Lancaster's official policies or customs contributed to excessive force and Lancaster failed to train and supervise its police, among others.
"Whatever tactical decisions preceded the encounter, they do not weigh so heavily as to render the use of deadly force unreasonable in the face of an immediate threat of serious harm," Schmehl wrote.
"So... the Court concludes that Officer Arnold's use of force was reasonable. The death of Mr. Munoz, while unquestionably tragic, was not, under the circumstances presented, a product of excessive force."
