After nearly a decade of litigation, Long Beach will pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit alleging a police officer negligently caused the death of a man who ended up pinned between a Metro train and station platform as the officer tried to detain him.
Police stopped Cesar Rodriguez at the Wardlow Road A Line station in August 2017 after discovering the 23-year-old hadn’t paid his fare. During the stop, Rodriguez and LBPD Officer Martin Ron ended up struggling on the ground as the train approached and then hit Rodriguez.
Rodriguez’s mother, Rosa Moreno, soon sued, kicking off a rollercoaster legal saga. During a 2023 trial, a jury awarded her $12.2 million, but that was reversed last year. A three-justice panel ruled that the trial judge tainted the verdict by not telling the jury how to assess Rodriguez’s comparative negligence for his own death, for allegedly trying to flee from Officer Ron…