BY ELAINE GOODMAN
Daily Post Correspondent
A federal jury has cleared a Redwood City police officer in a wrongful death lawsuit regarding the fatal shooting of a Palo Alto school teacher outside the teacher’s home in December 2018.
Kyle Hart, 33, who taught at Greene Middle School in Palo Alto, was trying to kill himself by cutting his neck and arms with a knife at his Redwood City home, according to court records in the case. His wife, Kristin Hart, called 911. Redwood City Police Officers Roman Gomez and Leila Velez arrived to find Hart in the backyard, and he approached them with a knife. Velez tried to shoot Hart with a Taser, but only one of the two prongs made contact, so it didn’t shock him. Gomez fired five shots at Hart. Three shots struck him in the chest. Hart was pronounced dead in the emergency room.
In April 2021, Kristin Hart and the couple’s two children filed a civil suit against the city of Redwood City, then-Police Chief Dan Mulholland, and officers Gomez and Velez in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Gomez’s trial in the case started last month.
On Nov. 6, jurors issued a verdict saying the Hart family hadn’t proved their wrongful death case. The court entered judgement in favor of Gomez; Hart will recover nothing in the case.
Lawyers for Hart and Gomez submitted a notice saying they wouldn’t file any additional motions or appeals.
In March 2019, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe decided that Gomez and Velez would not face criminal charges in Hart’s death. Wagstaffe noted that Gomez ordered Hart to drop the knife, but instead, Hart moved toward the officers with the knife raised.
“The death of Hart is a tragic outcome for his family and the community, but it is my belief that both officers conducted themselves in a professional, reasonable and proper manner and to the last moment sought to avoid the very result caused by the conduct of Hart,” Wagstaffe wrote.
Kristin Hart has also advocated for more crisis intervention training for Redwood City officers and for bean bag guns to be carried in every patrol car as an alternative to firearms. Although another officer was on the way to Hart’s house with a less lethal weapon, the officer got there too late.
Before Gomez’s trial last month, the case took a detour to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
There, a three-judge panel addressed the issue of whether “qualified immunity” applied to Gomez. That’s when police officers are shielded from personal liability in cases where they’re accused of using excessive force.
A key question in shielded immunity is whether it would be reasonable for the officer to believe that the amount of force used was required in a particular situation, the appellate court wrote in its decision. And the reasonableness of the force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, the court wrote, citing previous case law.
The judges said Hart’s family failed to show that Gomez’s conduct was “objectively unreasonable” and therefore a violation of Hart’s Fourth Amendment rights.
“Officer Gomez’s decision to fire was based on Hart’s failure to comply with commands, his approach, and his possession of a lethal weapon,” the judges said.
“It is undisputed that Officers Gomez and Velez literally had only seconds to react to a non-responsive man quickly approaching them with a knife,” their decision stated. Among the Hart family’s arguments was that Hart was less of a threat to officers because he had harmed himself before they arrived.
But the judges said Hart was able to approach the officers “at least at a brisk walk, while wielding the knife in front of him.”
The appellate court reversed the lower court’s decision that the officers were not entitled to qualified immunity. The lower court said that Hart had not committed an offense, was suicidal, was not a flight risk and was not a threat to others.
What caused Hart to attempt suicide the morning of Dec. 10, 2018, is unclear.
Kristin Hart told District Attorney’s investigators that her husband had been more anxious than usual due to their daughter’s birth three days earlier and the couple’s purchase of a “fixer-upper.”
Redwood City officers at the scene didn’t have body cameras. District attorney’s investigators instead relied on surveillance camera footage from across the street, which didn’t show the backyard, and a one minute and 28 second video that a neighbor recorded.
Kristin Hart didn’t witness the shooting, according to court documents. She said she saw her husband approaching the officers in the backyard, but then went inside to check on their children.
Got to wonder why Officer Gonez didn’t stop for a moment and thought about the situation before shooting Hart. Hart wasn’t going anywhere and approaching him only made him more upset. Gomez would have cooled down and waited Hart out. And as for the knife, had Hart stabbed anyone at the point he encountered Gomez? No. And that’s another important factor to consider before deciding Hart was an imminent threat and needed to be killed.
Hart was rapidly losing blood. Had Gomez waited, Hart would have bled out an died from his injuries and would have been criticized and likely sued for waiting rather than rendering aid. It was a no win situation caused by a man who was determined to die.
“Informed Observer,” were you able to read Hart’s mind? Or was this one of those clever stories coos gin up when they get caught?
Nice theory but there’s nothing in the record showing Gomez had any intention of applying first aid. Had he made that statement after shooting Hart, the city would have emphasized that in their filings. That’s not the way it went down.