City Of Tulsa Settles Lawsuit Over Police Shooting Of Illegal Immigrant

By Emory Bryan, The News on 6

TULSA, OKLAHOMA -- The City of Tulsa has agreed to pay $85,000 to the family of an illegal immigrant who was shot and killed while fleeing a Tulsa Police officer in 2007.

Tulsa Police Officer Dale White shot Mario Torres-Gomes on April 11, 2007. The shooting happened while police officers were searching the Sierra Pointe Apartments for two suspects from an assault and burglary at a nearby apartment complex.

4/11/2007 Related story: Officer On Leave After Killing Suspect

Police said at the time that a K-9 officer led them to an apartment building where Torres-Gomes jumped out of a window and fled along U.S. Highway 169 until he encountered Officer White. Police said during the foot pursuit, Torres-Gomes turned and reached into his waistband, as if to draw a weapon, before the officer fired a single shot, killing Torres-Gomes instantly.

Tulsa Police said Torres-Gomes was unarmed when he was shot and was not connected to the robberies that prompted the search at the apartment complex.

4/13/2007 Related story: Suspect Shot By Police Was Not Involved In Robberies

Investigators determined Torres-Gomes had been escorted back to Mexico the previous year by U.S. immigration officers, but was arrested two months later in Tulsa. Records show he had two misdemeanor warrants out for his arrest.

Officer White was a 31-year veteran of the Tulsa Police Department at the time of the shooting.

Francisca Torress, the mother of Mario Torres-Gomes, filed the wrongful death case is U.S. District Court.

Read the Agreement Judgement and Dismissal document filed in the case.