Family of Mexican national files claim, accuse police of murder ‘execution style’

Antonio Zambrano-Montes, 35, was shot by police Tuesday after he allegedly hurled rocks at vehicles and Pasco officers.

The city and the police department weren’t commenting on the claim, Pasco City Manager Dave Zabell said Saturday.

The case is attracting attention because a video posted on YouTube shows Zambrano running across a street with police in pursuit before he was fatally shot. The shooting has sparked local protests and anger at what some say is another example of police brutality and excessive force against an unarmed man who is a minority.

Zambrano-Montes’ widow, Teresa De Jesus Meraz Ruiz, 32, and the couple’s two minor daughters accused three Pasco officers in “the murder” of Zambrano-Montes, according to the claim filed Friday.

One officer, Ryan Flanagan, “has a prior history of official misconduct in civil rights matters,” the claim alleges. The other two officers are Adam Wright and Adrian Alaniz, the claim said.

The three officers are on paid administrative leave; Zabell said the city wouldn’t comment on the accusations against them.

On Wednesday, about 100 protesters marched outside Pasco City Hall, with some chanting “It was only a rock,” CNN affiliate KEPR reported.

The shooting comes in a period of strained police-community relations following the police-involved deaths last summer of Eric Garner, 43, on Staten Island in New York and Michael Brown, 18, in Ferguson, Missouri.

The medical examiner ruled Garner’s July 17 death a homicide due to compression of his neck and chest when he was taken down by an officer using a chokehold. His death sparked street protests, a review of police procedures and calls for a federal civil rights investigation. A grand jury declined to prosecute Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the case.

A few weeks later, Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson shot Brown after an altercation in the street.

The death of Brown, who was unarmed, thrust into the forefront the issue of law enforcement’s use of deadly force. A grand jury declined to prosecute Wilson, a decision that led to national demonstrations.

CNN