Berkeley Police Department officer body cameras captured the moments before, during and after an officer fatally shot David Bonino on Nov. 6, 2023. Credit: Berkeley Police DepartmentThe family of a man killed by Berkeley police in 2023 are suing the city, claiming he was doing nothing more than trying to drive home with his girlfriend when officers blocked his way and fatally shot him.
The civil complaint, filed Friday by attorneys from the Oakland firm Pointer & Buelan LLP, is connected to the police killing of David Lee Bonino II, 39, the morning of Nov. 6, 2023, as he drove up on a sidewalk near Grayson and Seventh streets in Southwest Berkeley, where police were in the process of arresting a burglary suspect.
Police have said that Bonino was also a suspect in the burglary and that the officer shot him as he was driving a stolen Ford Expedition “onto the sidewalk, nearly hitting two officers, the detained suspect and an uninvolved pedestrian.”
Body camera footage from the officer who fired — whom police have not identified — shows the SUV mount a curb, swipe a pair of recycling bins and pass directly by the officer. Footage from another nearby officer’s body camera shows the SUV knocking against the cans and passing very near the officer and suspect.
Bonino’s family are claiming he had never presented a threat to anyone.
According to his family’s lawsuit, Bonino “found his path blocked by a patrol vehicle” and drove “slowly onto the curb” to get around it after driving backwards into another cruiser, not knowing there was an officer handcuffing a suspect on the curb and out of sight behind a pickup truck.
The suit claims the officer, who was the one who fired into the Expedition, was in “a safe position” and “not in imminent danger,” and that the gunshots were “unnecessary and deadly.” Bonino’s family are alleging excessive force, violent civil rights violations, battery and negligence and suing for monetary damages.
Bonino’s “last moments were a painful, agonizing and torturous death,” according to his family’s complaint.
No attorney had entered an appearance on the city’s behalf as of Thursday morning. City and police officials did not immediately respond to an inquiry from Berkeleyside.
According to Berkeley police, officers were at the area in response to a 911 call reporting three people using crowbars to break into a truck and steal tools. They say, even before Bonino drove onto the sidewalk, they believed his Expedition was the vehicle being used by the alleged burglars. (Bonino has been convicted in Alameda County for auto theft, fleeing police and burglary, according to court records.)
After the gunshots the Expedition came to a halt a little ways down the sidewalk. Police smashed windows to extricate Bonino and a female passenger, videos from the scene showed. Audio from the clips indicates Bonino was shot near where his neck met his chin.
Bonino was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he died, police said at the time of the shooting. Police also arrested Bonino’s passenger, as well as the suspect the officer who shot Bonino was handcuffing, though court records do not show any charges against either from that incident.
The suit was filed on behalf of Michael Anthony Bonino, Lacy Wentz, Tehya Dyani Little Cloud and Zoe Craven, whom the complaint refers to as Bonino’s siblings, although “Zoee Craven” — spelled with two e’s in the given name — is the name of Bonino’s passenger, whom the complaint referred to as Bonino’s girlfriend.
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