A federal jury in California has awarded the family of a pregnant teen shot dead by undercover cops $21 million. Elena Mondragon, 16, was in her first pregnancy trimester when she was killed during a police operation, but she was unaware that her friend, Rico Tiger, 19, was behind several robberies.
According to the Insider, the incident occurred at a Hayward St. parking lot in March 2017. Mondragon was riding in the car driven by Tiger when a van with the Fremont undercover cops in plainclothes tried to cut them off. They planned on arresting Tiger, who attempted to escape. In their panic, the police fired at the car and hit the pregnant teen.
Lawyers for the Mondragon family said that she was killed in "a botched covert arrest operation." Melissa Nold, one of the lawyers, said that the Fremont Police Department decided at the scene that the 16-year-old's life did not matter.
The jury took two days to deliberate on their verdict and settlement in mid-June 2022. Half of the $21 million will be collected from Tiger, whom the city charged for murder.
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Undercover Cop Admitted He Panicked
Sgt. Jeremy Miskella was the undercover cop who fired the AR-15 rifle that killed Mondragon. According to The Mercury News, Miskella told the federal jury that he panicked during the encounter and thought Tiger would kill him. Tiger escaped by reversing the car and ramming onto anything. At some point, he was accelerating towards Miskella, who then pulled the trigger.
Miskella said that his focus was fixed on Tiger. While police standard procedure strongly discourages firing onto a moving vehicle, as this was not an effective technique, they could fire if there was an imminent threat. Miskella believed there was.
However, lawyers for the Mondragon family said that Miskella and his fellow officers failed to abide by the rules of engagement; they did not follow standard police practices. In the end, they got someone killed.
Mondragon was hit by four of five bullets fired by Miskella as she was in the car's front passenger seat. She was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery on her chest and spine, but she did not survive her injuries. Doctors later confirmed that she was in the first trimester of her pregnancy.
The car, a BMW that Tiger stole, also had two other passengers who were later arrested. The undercover cops were tracking them when they decided to proceed with Tiger's arrest, but he tried to run them over. Patrick Moriarty, the lawyer for the cops, said that the officers did not shoot indiscriminately. Instead, they thought they were going to get killed.
Elena Mondragon's Death Went Unnoticed
After the family filed their lawsuit against the city of Fremont in 2018, Miguel Minjares, the uncle of Mondragon, said that his niece's death did not gather outrage and attention regarding police brutality. No one took out their smartphones to record videos, and the cops did not turn on their body cameras.
The family thought they were fighting a lost cause, and the case would be forgotten. However, Christina Flores, the victim's aunt, said that despite the lack of video evidence, they know that the police made serious errors of engagement.
Meanwhile, according to East Bay Times, Mondragon's parents were unaware she was pregnant. Her mother, however, said that her daughter was not supposed to be on the scene because her dad was on his way to pick her up after she called to bring her home.
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