San Bernardino settles wrongful death police shooting lawsuit for $4 million

The city of San Bernardino announced Friday, March 22, it has paid $4 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a man who allegedly was armed with a gun when he was fatally shot by police as he was running away from them outside an illegal casino.

The family of Rob Marquise Adams filed a lawsuit against the city and police Officers Michael Yeun and Imran Ahmed in December 2022, initially alleging Adams was shot seven times without justification. Most of those shots were in the back, according to the lawsuit.

Brad Gage, who along with nationally known civil rights attorney Ben Crump is representing Adams’ family, said Friday that Adams, 23, was actually shot six times, and one of the shots was a “through and through,” meaning one of bullets entered and exited Adams, leaving two wounds.

Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, a civil rights activist, paid for an independent autopsy of Adams, Gage said.

Although not specified in the lawsuit, Adams’ family reportedly was seeking $100 million. The city settled with them on Feb. 17, about four months before the case was set to go to trial. It includes all payments to the plaintiffs and fees to their attorneys, according to the city’s news release.

“San Bernardino agreed to the settlement recognizing the costs and attorneys’ fees to take a federal civil rights case to trial, as well as the risks associated with a civil jury, given the current climate in the courts,” said attorney Steven Rothans, who represented the city on the case.

Gage said in a telephone interview Friday that there were “four million reasons why the case settled,” and it wasn’t just because of the climate in the courts.

“This case settled because there was no justification for the killing of Rob Adams,” Gage said.

The lawsuit alleges Adams was talking to a friend in the parking lot, and his mother on the phone, when the shooting occurred. Adams mother, Tamika King, said her son was holding a cellphone, not a gun.

At the time of the incident, the involved officers had no prior information on Adams, Gage said.

“They had a report of a black man with a gun. That’s all they knew,” Gage said. “They had no knowledge of who the black man was, and they didn’t have knowledge of any convictions at all. Instead, they shot down Rob Adams in what has been described as hunting and killing rather than protecting and serving.”

Police were conducting surveillance

Police were conducting surveillance on the illegal casino, in the 400 block of West Highland Avenue, on July 16, 2022, when they received a report from someone just after 8 p.m. that there was a man with a gun in the parking lot who went by the nickname “JuJu.” “JuJu” was Adams’ nickname, authorities said.

When the two officers drove into the parking lot in their unmarked vehicle and parked, they spotted Adams with a gun in his waistband. Adams pulled the gun from his waistband and walked toward their vehicle, according to security video footage from the casino released by the San Bernardino Police Department.

“Adams not only clearly possessed a firearm, but pulled it from his waistband and displayed it as he was walking toward the officers’ vehicle,” Police Chief Darren Goodman said in a video debriefing on the incident shortly after it occurred.

Adams ordered to freeze

The two officers got out of their vehicle, identified themselves as police officers and ordered Adams to freeze, according to a city news release on Friday. Police said multiple witnesses corroborated their version of events.

“The individual did not freeze, but with a firearm in his right hand began to run from the officers in between two parked vehicles. Believing that the subject was trying to find cover and ambush the officers, one of the officers fired six rounds at the suspect as the suspect began to turn to look back over his left shoulder,” according to the news release.

Video from Yeun’s body-worn camera shows him firing shots at Adams as he is running away and throwing his gun onto the roof of Golden Valley Medical, a medical supplies business. Although there is no audio when the shooting occurs, the video shows bullet casings being expended from Yeun’s gun as he is running toward Adams.

Adams’ gun, a 9 mm Taurus, was later retrieved from the roof of the business, San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson said Friday.

Final report expected in 2-3 weeks

The District Attorney’s Office continues its investigation into the shooting to determine if the officers’ actions were justified. Anderson said Friday that the report should be finalized and released to the public in the next two to three weeks.

Four months before he was shot, in March 2022, Adams pleaded no contest in San Bernardino Superior Court to one felony count of armed robbery as part of a plea agreement with county prosecutors. Anderson said Adams was one of three defendants in that case who robbed patrons at gunpoint at the same casino in 2021.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, Adams was not allowed to be at the establishment nor carry a gun, Anderson said. The night he was shot, however, Adams was suspected of working as a lookout for the casino, Anderson said.

Gage called the accusation that the casino would hire someone accused of robbing its patrons “absurd and nonsensical.”

He said more information will be divulged at a news conference at his Woodland Hills law firm on March 28.