Police Shooting Ruled Justified in Oakland Lawsuit

Two Oakland police officers didn't do anything wrong when they shot and killed a hair-salon owner who was carrying a scale that the pair mistook for a gun, a federal jury ruled Monday in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the man's widow.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Officers Eriberto Perez-Angeles and Omar Daza-Quiroz smiled and hugged their attorneys after a jury in U.S. District Court in Oakland, after deliberating for less than a day, ruled that they had not used unreasonable force against Derrick Jones, 37, when they shot and killed him in November 2010.

The officers said they had thought Jones was reaching for a gun just before they opened fire after a foot chase. Jones actually had a small, silver-colored scale.

The jury found that Jones' widow, Lanell Monique Jones, who sought $10 million in her lawsuit, had not proved that her husband's civil rights were violated. She said afterward that she would appeal.