Rudi Acosta Alma Acosta v. City and County of San Francisco Daniel Yawczak

Plaintiffs Rudi and Alma Acosta whose 21 year-old son, Michael Acosta, was shot and killed by San Francisco Police Inspector Daniel Yawczak appeal the district court’s judgment as a matter of law in favor of the defendants.

The Acostas sued the City and County of San Francisco, its police chief, and officer Yawczak, alleging causes of action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and California state law. The trial was bifurcated. The Acostas’ suit against Yawczak proceeded to trial first and the district court stayed discovery in the suit against the municipality and the Police Chief.

■ The following facts are not in dispute: On November 2, 1991 at 6:45 p.m., Yawczak, a San Francisco police officer who was off-duty and in plainclothes, was standing in front of his car in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco when he heard a woman scream and saw two young men, Ernesto Peeson and Edwin Silva, running with what . he believed to be a purse. Yawczak drew his gun, a .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol, and chased Peeson and Silva around the block. After Peeson and Silva got into a waiting car, Yawczak fired two shots into the car, the first of which killed the driver, Acosta. The jury was…