Jury Rejects Claim Against 2 Officers in Fatal Shooting

A Van Nuys Superior Court jury ruled Tuesday that Los Angeles police officers were not negligent in the 1981 shooting death of a man they said reached for a shotgun when they awakened him in his car parked on a Sepulveda street.

The jury deliberated 2 1/2 days before rejecting the suit against the officers and the City of Los Angeles filed by 65-year-old David A. Lally of Highland Park, who asked $200,000 in damages for the death of his son, David P. Lally, 27.

During a weeklong trial before Judge Joel Rudof, Officers Richard Haberland and Byron Travis gave the only eyewitness testimony to the shooting.

They said that, when they awakened the younger Lally, he reached into the back seat of his car, grabbed a shotgun and raised it with the barrel pointed at Travis.

Haberland testified that he thought his partner was going to be shot and that he shot Lally once in the back of the head.

Lally’s attorney, Carol A. Watson, said the two traffic officers were “over their head” in the situation and accused them of lying about Lally pointing the shotgun at them.

But Assistant City Atty. Philip J. Sugar called the officers’ behavior a “textbook type traffic stop.”

Jurors said they voted 9 to 3 against the plaintiff.

Jury foreman Lawrence B. Comp said most jurors felt “there just wasn’t enough evidence to find against the city.”