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Parents of Slain
Gay Dancer Sue San Diego Harbor Police

Parents of Slain
Gay Dancer Sue San Diego Harbor Police

The family of a West Hollywood, Calif., man who was shot and killed by San Diego Harbor police July 19 filed a lawsuit this week, seeking $20 million in damages from the police department and the officer who killed him, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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The family of a West Hollywood, Calif., man who was shot and killed by San Diego Harbor police July 19 filed a lawsuit this week, seeking $20 million in damages from the police department and the officer who killed him, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Steven Paul Hirschfield, 37, a gay dancer, was working on board a San Diego Gay Pride weekend party boat on July 19 but jumped off the boat around 11 p.m. into the San Diego Harbor. Police officers Clyde Williams and Wayne Schmidt were sent to retrieve Hirschfield in a rescue boat just minutes later. According to police, Hirschfield argued with the officers and grabbed one of the officers' taser guns, hitting him in the face with it, and in attempting to then take possession of Williams's gun, was fatally shot.

Hirschfield's parents claim in their suit that their son was killed without legal justification but make no mention of the possibility that antigay sentiment on the part of the officers might have been at the root of the shooting. The Hirschfields' Los Angeles-based attorney, Brian Claypool, however, will suggest that possibility during arguments.

"We are working to validate that the chief is antigay," Claypool said. "We are investigating complaints that he is endorsing and propagating antigay sentiments."

At this point, the two officers most closely involved, Williams and Schmidt, have been put on "routine paid administrative leave pending the results of a San Diego police investigation," according to the Union-Tribune. (The Advocate)

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