LOS ANGELES (AP) — A wrongful-death lawsuit filed against the Los Angeles Police Department for an officer’s fatal shooting of 14-year-old Valentina Orellana-Peralta is set to go to trial. The incident occurred on December 23, 2021, at a Burlington store in North Hollywood, where Valentina was shopping for Christmas clothes with her mother.
Valentina was struck by a bullet that penetrated the dressing room wall during a police response to an incident involving a man attacking two women with a bike lock. Officer William Dorsey Jones Jr. fired his rifle three times, resulting in the tragic death of Orellana-Peralta.
The lawsuit, initiated by Valentina's parents, claims wrongful death, negligence, and emotional distress. Soledad Peralta, Valentina’s mother, described the harrowing moment she felt her daughter’s body go limp as she held her in her arms.
According to the lawsuit, the LAPD is accused of failing to adequately train and supervise its officers, creating a hostile environment that enabled such a shooting to happen. Nick Rowley, the family's attorney, emphasized that Valentina was a young girl with a future ahead of her, now tragically cut short due to the actions of the police.
The Los Angeles city attorney's office, which represents the LAPD, had no immediate comment on the matter. In 2022, the LAPD Police Commission found that while Jones was justified in his first shot, the two subsequent shots were out of policy. The former Police Chief had stated that none of the shots fired were justified.
Jones claims he believed a shooter was inside the store and mistook the bike lock for a firearm. The situation is compounded as Rowley recently secured a $30 million settlement for another police killing case, indicating potential implications for this case as it unfolds.
