Claim filed against San Bernardino County after 15-year-old is fatally shot by deputies

Mar. 28—The attorney for the family of the autistic 15-year-old boy who was shot to death by a San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy as he wielded a garden hoe said Thursday, March 28, that deputies failed to fulfill their role as part of the safety net for those suffering from mental health issues.

Deputies responded to the Iroquois Road home of Ryan Gainer on March 9 after a 911 caller pleaded for deputies to "take him in" and said he had assaulted family members and damaged the house. Recordings from deputies' body-worn cameras show them walking up to the house. As one deputy calls out "Where is he?" Gainer appears in the door and rushes toward them, carrying the hoe above his head.

A deputy, as he retreats, warns Ryan that he will be shot unless he drops the hoe. A second deputy, identified by the department as Wyatt Eisenbrey, fires at Ryan as he chases the deputy in the front yard and appears to be only feet away, the recordings show.

At a March 13 news conference, Sheriff Shannon Dicus said deputies had visited the home five times previously and each resulted in Ryan being taken to a mental-health facility with no use of force.

"Our social safety network is not working and needs to be strengthened," Dicus said. "There is no reason for law enforcement to be the ones that end up having to get involved in these crises, specifically when we've off-ramped these individuals to social services that are supposed to be designed to take care of their mental-health needs."

But attorney DeWitt M. Lacy, whose law firm filed a wrongful-death claim against the county on March 18 seeking more than $25,000 in damages, said Dicus was "passing the buck."

"They abandoned their training," Lacy said in an interview. "They shouted, 'Where is he?' As soon as they saw Ryan they presented a gun. Law enforcement officers are trained to deal with this. And they are passing the buck right now because it looks bad. Approaching in a calm manner, not making threats; those are the types of things they are actually trained on.

"(Dicus is) shucking responsibility and accountability. He can say whatever he wants about some failing in the mental health safety network. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department is not living up to its job because they are not part of that safety net," Lacy continued.

The claim is a legally required precursor to a lawsuit against the government. County spokesman David Wert declined to comment on the claim, citing the pending litigation, other than to say administrators have not yet reviewed it. Such claims are almost always rejected.

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