City demands $3,000 from mother who wants records after cops kill her son

In 2009, 35-year-old Caesar Ray Cruz, a father of five, was on his way to pick up his kids from school when five Anaheim police officers shot and killed him. He was unarmed. The city of Anaheim paid his relatives $150,000 in a settlement.

Cruz's mother, Theresa Smith, is seeking the records relating to her son's death, but the city wants a $3,000 deposit. She says she doesn't have the money.

From Fox 11 News:

"Are they crazy?" Smith asked. "We had to scrape by just to pay for a funeral. I certainly can't come up with that kind of money."

Smith requested this information through a Public Records Act seeking certain police files that are now public under a new law, SB 1421, that took effect on Jan. 1. The type of files are limited and they include: If an officer was found by superiors to have lied or had an inappropriate sexual relationship on the job, or if officers used force where a person was killed or suffered great bodily injury.

As many jurisdictions in California, including Contra County County and Southern California, are seeking to block the release of these files arguing that anything created before this date should be kept private, others, such as Anaheim, are complying with the new law, but they want to make sure that it's not at the taxpayer's expense.

Image: Theresa Smith and son Ceasar Cruz