Source: Los Angeles Times, KABC, NBC San Diego

 
Steven Paul Hirschfield was performing aboard a Pride Weekend cruise in San Diego before he was pulled from the bay by harbor police and then shot.

The family of a man who was shot by San Diego Harbor Police after they pulled him from San Diego Bay said Friday that they are filing a federal civil rights lawsuit seeking punitive damages against the officer who shot him.

Los Angeles-based attorney Brian Claypool and relatives of Steven Paul Hirschfield, 37, spoke out for the first time in West Hollywood. They said they are filing a lawsuit collectively seeking $20 million in punitive damages against the officer who shot Hirschfield

"The police categorically fabricated how the shooting occurred to justify what would otherwise be an unjustified shooting," Claypool said.

"The police officer who executed Steven Hirschfield shot him from behind. He shot him in the back -- not in the chest, as been reported by several news outlets," the attorney said.

The San Diego County medical examiner reported that Hirschfield died from a single gunshot wound to the chest and released no additional details. Toxicology reports were pending, Los Angeles Times reports.

"We're devastated," said Al Hirschfield, Steven's father. "He was a very wonderful young man. He had everything to live for."

The family said that filing a lawsuit is the only way to hold the police department accountable.

Harbor Police say they cannot comment on the allegations since they have yet to see the lawsuit.

Hirschfield, a performer and bodybuilder who lived in West Hollywood, had been hired to dance aboard the Circuit Daze harbor cruise, attended by as many as 900 people as part of the weekend's gay pride celebrations.

According to a police report, crew members on the boat called police about an hour into the cruise to report a man overboard.

According to police, Hirschfield became combative and began to fight with the officers after he was pulled from San Diego Bay by Harbor Police.

He allegedly knocked one of them down, grabbed the officer's stun gun and hit him in the face with it.

Police say Hirschfield then reached for the officer's revolver. That's when the second officer fired, killing the man they had just rescued.

"This is not a case of Steven Hirschfield attacking a police officer," Claypool said at a press conference attended by Hirschfield family members. "This is a case about irresponsible, renegade, insensitive police practices and procedures."

Claypool charged that the police officers may have been biased, KABC reports.

"I believe that this officer may have had preconceived notions against gay men and that affected how quickly he pulled out his gun," said Claypool.

Hirschfield was brought to a nearby dock, where paramedics pronounced him dead, authorities said.

Officials said that an officer, 20-year veteran Clyde Williams, was treated at a hospital for injuries to his face and leg and released Sunday. He and Wayne Schmidt, the officer who fired the fatal shot, have been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation, Los Angeles Times reports.

Full article: Family of man killed aboard patrol boat files lawsuit | Los Angeles Times
Lawyer, Family: Dancer 'Executed' By Police | NBC San Diego
Family to sue SD Harbor cops for shooting | KABC