Family of man killed by LAPD officer who mistook plastic fork for weapon to get $5.8 million

The city of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $5.8 million to the family of a man who was holding a plastic fork and experiencing a mental health crisis when he was fatally shot by a rookie LAPD officer, attorneys for the family said.

The settlement announced Thursday brings to a close a two-year legal tussle between the family of Jason Maccani and the city’s lawyers over his 2024 death. Most larger civil payouts require final approval from the City Council.

The incident drew widespread condemnation from activists, city officials and then-Police Chief Michel Moore, who said he had “concerns” about the officers’ actions.

Maccani, 36, was shot after he approached LAPD officers who were responding to an “assault with a deadly weapon” call at a Skid Row warehouse, according to police and the family’s lawsuit. After officers hit Maccani with a 40-millimeter projectile, body-worn camera and surveillance footage showed him move toward the six officers and one supervisor while holding the plastic utensil in his hand.

A struggle ensued and one of the officers pinned Maccani against a wall. Officer Caleb Garcia-Alamilla fired one round at point-blank range that struck Maccani in his right arm and traveled into his chest, police said.

Before striking Maccani, the bullet also grazed the hand of the supervisor, Sgt. Jeffrey Punzalan, according to police.

Maccani was suffering from an apparent bipolar episode, his family said; an autopsy revealed that he didn’t have any drugs in his system when he died.

Maccani’s mother said that although she is grateful that the court case is behind her, no amount of money could bring her son back.

“I’m really disappointed in the way our system works. There is no justice, because there’s no accountability,” Janet Maccani said. “And the settlement we received is not life-changing, but what they’ve done to us is definitely life-changing.”

Maccani, she said, had been a star prep football player and a college graduate — not a transient as he had been depicted in some early police accounts and news reports.

“I was really disturbed in the way they portrayed Jason in the beginning. They were saying he was some homeless drug addict, blah, blah, blah,” she said. “And it doesn’t even matter if he was homeless, which he wasn’t, because all lives matter.”

An attorney for the family noted that Garcia-Alamilla, the officer who fired the fatal shot, is no longer with the department.

The L.A. city attorney’s office, which represents police officers in civil matters, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Garcia-Alamilla had had less than a year on the job at the time of the shooting. He said afterward that he mistook the plastic fork for a weapon.

After reviewing the evidence, an internal review board was divided on whether Garcia-Alamilla was justified in using deadly force. Ultimately, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell ruled that the officer’s decision to shoot was against department policy.