It was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now being in that position is paying off for two women in Los Angeles. Margie Carranza, 47 and her mother, 71-year-old Emma Hernandez, were delivering the Los Angeles Times newspaper when their truck was shot at multiple times. The shooters, LAPD officers, were standing guard outside of the home of a police captain.
The shooting occurred at the time when a manhunt for Christopher Dorner was ongoing. Dorner was a former LAPD officer seeking revenge by targeting and killing law enforcement officers. He ended up killing four people in total before he was killed himself.
Carranza and Hernandez were not permanently injured as result of the shooting. Carranza suffered from superficial wounds. Hernandez was hit in the back by bullets two times, but she and her daughter have both made full physical recoveries since the incident occurred in February. Now, the two women are being paid $4.2 million by the city of Los Angeles. The case moved much quicker in comparison to most other LAPD civil lawsuits. Others are not resolved for years. Some are calling the payout “unusually high”, because neither Carranza nor Hernandez faced crippling injuries or death. The city and police department just want the Dorner case to be closed for good, and this was one of the loose ends that needed tying up.
The City Council will have to approve the settlement, but it is expected to.