WASHINGTON _ The Supreme Court agreed Friday to review a police shooting in Los Angeles County and decide whether officers can be held liable if they recklessly provoke a violent confrontation.
Two deputies were hit with a $4 million judgment for breaking into a shack behind a house in Lancaster in 2010 and shooting and severely injuring a couple who were sleeping there.
One of the victims, Angel Mendez, was holding a BB gun in the dark shack, and a judge decided the officers acted reasonably in firing their guns since they feared for their safety. At the time, they were looking for a fugitive who was said to be armed and dangerous.
But the judge nonetheless held the two officers liable because they had provoked the confrontation by entering the shack without a search warrant.
The justices have noted before that the 9th Circuit Court, which has jurisdiction on the West Coast, is the only one to have adopted this "provocation" rule in police shooting cases.
And on Friday, the high court said it would hear the officers' appeal, which asks the justices to throw out this rule.
The case of Los Angeles County v. Mendez will be heard and decided early next year.
