The City of Long Beach is appealing a court ruling that awarded a mother $12 million for her pain and suffering after her son was fatally struck by a train while detained by police in 2017.
As the years pass since the death of 23-year-old Cesar Rodriguez, his loved ones still make the drive from Boyle Heights to Long Beach each year to honor his memory. As the sun set on the evening of Aug. 29, family and friends gathered at the Wardlow Metro Station to hang and decorate a flag that read “Justice for Cesar Rodriguez.”
“Even though it’s been six years, it feels just as if it was yesterday that this happened,” said Evelia Granados, Rodriguez’s sister, on the sixth anniversary of his death.
According to a 2020 memorandum by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Rodriguez was stopped by authorities on Aug. 29, 2017 as he was riding the Blue Line for failing to pay to enter the train.
Rodriguez was then removed from the train to be questioned and searched by police. Police allege he gave Officer Ron Martin a fake name. Martin then searched Rodriguez, and said he found methamphetamine on Rodriguez.
In the memorandum, Martin said Rodriguez pulled away from him during the search, and Martin continued to try and subdue him as the train was oncoming.
Surveillance video from the train that struck Rodriguez didn’t capture the beginning of the altercation, but it does show Martin grabbing onto Rodriguez as the two fall to the floor, with Rodriguez’s lower body hanging off the edge of the platform. Rodriguez was pinned between the platform and train, suffering severe injuries. He was taken to a hospital, where he died on Aug. 29, 2017.
Rodriguez’s family has called for charges to be filed against Martin. The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office declared that Martin was free of any wrongdoing under previous DA Jackie Lacey, but the family became hopeful again when DA George Gascon entered office after an election campaign that called for increased police accountability.
Although Lacey declined to press charges against Martin, the new DA has the power to reopen the case if he thinks there is sufficient proof to take it to trial.
However, Granados said they felt let down again, and she doesn’t believe Gascon will ever bring charges against Martin.
“Money is never gonna bring my brother back. And what we would really want is for this cop to be liable and criminally charged. But I know that it’s not going to happen.”
Evelia Granados, Rodriguez’s sister
At the beginning of his term in office, in Sept. 2020, Gascon pledged that he would reopen four cases of police violence that Lacey declined to press charges in. However, two years later, none of the police officers involved in any of these cases have gone to trial.
The Signal Tribune emailed the DA’s Office to ask whether Gascon is considering reopening Martin’s case, but did not hear back by print time.
Martin was promoted to the rank of Sergeant during a ceremony held at the Long Beach Marriott on Jan. 13, 2020, according to a press release by LBPD.
Rodriguez’s family sued Martin as well as the City of Long Beach. The family’s attorney argued that the officer was aware of the danger the train posed when he detained Rodriguez. In January, a Los Angeles Superior Court panel found that Martin had been negligent during his arrest of Rodriguez, and awarded Rodriguez’s mother, Rosa Moreno, $12.2 million in a civil judgment.
According to the Long Beach Post, one juror said the jury believed Martin should have moved Rodriguez to the middle of the platform before searching him.
“Money is never gonna bring my brother back,” Granados said. “And what we would really want is for this cop to be liable and criminally charged. But I know that it’s not going to happen.”
Principal Deputy City Attorney Howard Russell confirmed that the City is appealing the outcome of the lawsuit in a phone call with the Signal Tribune.
In the years following Rodriguez’s death, his family and community organizations such as Alliance for Community Transit Los Angeles (ACT-LA), have called for an end to the contracts between Metro and police. ACT-LA advocates having unarmed safety ambassadors keep the peace on public transportation.
The Signal Tribune reached out to public safety consultant 21CP to ask about the effectiveness and feasibility of deploying unarmed civilian peacekeepers on Metro trains, but did not hear back before print time.
Metro has contracted with the Long Beach Police Department, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to provide security services for its trains. Metro agreed to pay Long Beach $33 million to patrol the eight Metro stations in the City.
In March, the Metro Board of Directors unanimously voted to extend the contract with these police departments for three more years, as Metro studies the feasibility of creating its own separate police force.
LBPD told the Signal Tribune in an email that Metro will pay $10.16 million for LBPD to patrol the A Line from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024.
So he is evading fare, aka stealing – riding the rail. Gets stopped and has illegal drugs on him. Pulls away from the officer, and tragically is injured and dies. AND who did something wrong here?! Certainly not the police or city now paying for this non sense. Sounds like poor civil litigators out of LB on this or complete anti police jury neglect verdict. And we the citizen pay the bill.