Wife Of Palo Alto Teacher Killed By Police Sues Redwood City

REDWOOD CITY, CA — A Redwood City woman sued the city alleging negligence and wrongful death in the 2018 police shooting that killed her husband, a Palo Alto middle school teacher, in their backyard.

Kristin Hart filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleging that Redwood City police Officers Roman Gomez and Leila Velez failed to de-escalate a confrontation with her husband, Kyle Hart, who suffered from anxiety and cut himself with a knife on Dec. 10, 2018, she said in a news briefing Wednesday.

Instead, the officers shot and killed Hart within 16 seconds of their arrival at the couple's back yard, the lawsuit alleged. The suit seeks unspecified damages.

Hart, who was 33, had a deep cut on his throat when the officers entering the Harts' back yard. Neither officer attempted to de-escalate the situation or employ any crisis-intervention tactics, the suit alleged. Instead, while Velez tried unsuccessfully to use a taser on Hart, Gomez shot at Hart five times, striking him with three bullets, according to the lawsuit.

"Moreover, after shooting Mr. Hart, [the officers] failed to administer emergency medical care, and instead handcuffed Mr. Hart, leaving him on the ground to bleed out," the lawsuit said.

There was no video of the incident because the department didn’t equip officers with body cameras at the time. In 2019, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe cleared the officers in the shooting, saying that they “acted lawfully in response to a dangerous and rapidly-evolving situation.”

“The death of Mr. Hart is a tragic outcome for his family and the community, but it is my belief that both officers conducted themselves in a professional, reasonable and proper manner and to the last moment sought to avoid the very result caused by the conduct of Mr. Hart,” Wagstaffe wrote in a statement at the time, according to The Mercury News.

The Redwood City Police Department did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment Wednesday.

Calls for reform in how police respond to mental health calls have only intensified over the past year after protests following several high-profile police shootings.

Kristin Hart’s lawyer, John Burris — who represented Rodney King and Oscar Grant — said that the case reflects how people with mental impairments are treated by local law enforcement.

“In situations where family members call for help because their loved one is suffering a mental crisis, we have seen far too often that when the police arrive, instead of de-escalating a situation or taking control of a situation, they wind up killing the person — and killing them under circumstances that are highly questionable,” Burris said.

Kristin Hart, who is also a teacher in the Palo Alto Unified School District, said she wants to see the Redwood City Police Department initiate changes in how it responds to mental health calls. “There has been no acknowledgement that mental health response is an area where the police even need to improve,” Hart said. “Proper equipment and training are part of this. But it must be based in a culture that truly values all people, no matter who they are.”

Hart added that she has spoken with city officials — including the city manager and council members — over the last two years and attempted mediation, but the city was unreceptive, leading to the lawsuit.

The couple had two children and moved to Redwood City the same year as the incident. Hart said that her husband’s mental health situation deteriorated very quickly after he was diagnosed with anxiety.

She called him a down-to-earth and very caring husband.

“Kyle was the rare person who could strike up a conversation with anyone he met, from waiters at restaurants to the awkward tween at a family event,” Hart said. “Kyle was kind and truly interested in the people around him. He was my best friend and a wonderful husband.”