After meeting with San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies last year, the family of Cucamonga residents is suing the city and the sheriff’s department for allegations of excessive force and unlawful death.
The incident occurred in the early hours of March 19, 2024, when San Bernardino County deputies responded to a report of an unidentified caller reporting “die and misconduct,” which filed a claim for the family in federal court in Los Angeles last week.
The Sheriff’s Department’s initial press release said deputies were checking for someone “trying to open the apartment doors, car doors, and activate the apartment’s fire alarm.”
According to family complaints, two female deputies arrived and found Mohd F. Hijaz, 32, sitting on the side of the road near the bushes, unarmed. The lawsuit says he is talking to a past driver who told him they will give him water.
According to the Sheriff’s Department, deputies tried to keep Henhaz away, but he approached them despite orders to stop. Deputies deployed their tasers on him several times, according to the family’s lawsuit.
Another patrol car, two male representatives arrived. According to the department, he hit one of the four deputies when they tried to detain Henhaz.
The family’s complaint said deputies then used too much force to hit Henhaz on strike with a baton and slammed their heads into the sidewalk. Hijaz was injured several times, suffered a cardiopulmonary arrest and was taken to the San Antonio Regional Hospital in the Highlands, where he was pronounced dead.
The plaintiff in the lawsuit is Hijaz’s mother Fathieh Jawdat Naji, his widow Nada Osama Nafaa and his children as children.
“He is in a mental health crisis, obviously in trouble and has not engaged in criminal acts. No need to exercise any force, let alone excessive force,” they said in the complaint.
Rancho Cucamonga City declined to comment. A spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department said it had no information available except for the news releases two days after the release.
Sa’id Vakili, an attorney for a family, said the California Department of Justice has not been contacted and that the death of an unarmed person is only needed to be investigated when an officer fires a shot.
The autopsy report, representative body camera footage and surveillance footage from nearby apartment buildings have not been released to the family, Vakili said.
“Given that it’s been a year, it’s very unusual. [The Sheriff’s Department] It’s mentioned that they will [release it]but in the end not yet,” Wakkily said. “We plan to get all of this stuff by discovering. We will explain exactly what happened. ”
Wakkily said the family was able to access photos from the coroner’s office, which depicted the location of his injury, which appeared to be a baton and Taser strike. The lawyer said Henhaz had no history of violence before his death.
