$6.5M Awarded to Family of Man Shot to Death by Police

The family of a man who was shot and killed by Long Beach, California, police officers who mistook a water hose nozzle he was holding for a handgun, was awarded $6.5 million by a federal jury this week.

Jurors found that the constitutional rights of the shooting victim, Doug Zerby, were violated when officers responding to a call in December 2010 about a man waving a handgun outside the Belmont Shore Apartments, opened fire on him without first identifying themselves or ordering Zerby to drop his “weapon.”

The officers shot Zerby 12 times.

According to court documents, $3.5 million of the verdict will go to Zerby’s son, $1 million to his mother, and $2 million to his father.