Family of Tyler Woods, killed by Long Beach police, wins $1.05 million in lawsuit

A jury in federal court has sided with the family of a 19-year-old man who was fatally shot by Long Beach police in November 2013 after fleeing a traffic stop.

The jury awarded the family of Tyler Woods $1.05 million in punitive damages and found that the officers violated Woods’ parents’ civil rights when they shot him, said Brian Du, the attoey representing the family, in a phone interview Thursday moing.

Du, of The Cochran Firm in Los Angeles, said the jury retued its decision late Wednesday. The trial began June 14, according to court records.

Monte Machit, who is handling the case for the Long Beach City Attoey’s Office, could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday moing.

Woods’ death came during a rash of officer-involved shooting in Long Beach that drew regional criticism and scrutiny of the department. His was the 20th officer-involved shooting that year.

The shooting happened early in the moing of Nov. 19, 2013 on the roof of an apartment building near 4th Street and Nebraska Avenue.

Woods was wanted in coection with a carjacking in Los Angeles and was named in an arrest warrant that described him as an armed and dangerous felon, police said. He was also suspected of taking part in a recent armed robbery.

In an email after the shooting, Long Beach police spokeswoman Marlene Arrona, spokeswoman for the Long Beach Police Department, said that no weapon was recovered at the scene.

Police pulled over a vehicle Woods was in around 2:30 a.m. in the area of Walnut Avenue and Third Street and he reportedly ran from officers, according to a police statement.

About an hour later, a resident near the 1500 block of Fifth Street reported hearing someone climbing on his roof. He also indicated to police that the suspect could be hiding in a laundry room, officials said.

A Los Angeles Police Department helicopter helped in the search and gave out several commands over a public address system asking for the suspect to give up.

Woods reportedly tried to break into a few units at an apartment complex in the 400 block of Nebraska Avenue, police said.

During the search, a woman called to report she found a man standing on her balcony, police said. Soon thereafter, Woods ended up on the roof of the apartment building.

“Once on the roof, the suspect took a kneeling position and began to tu toward” police, according to the police statement.

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Police shot Woods shortly thereafter. It was unclear how many times Woods was struck, although witnesses reported hearing about a dozen gunshots.

Police officials said in a statement that “the officers discharged their weapons believing the suspect was about to fire at them.”

Shortly after the shooting, family and friends remembered Woods’ goofy, silly sense of humor and his care for his younger sister Kyra, and his baby son Nye, who was one-year-old at the time of the shooting.

The shooting prompted Woods’ family and friends, as well as community members, to march through Long Beach streets to the police station shortly after the shooting.