Elk Grove pays $1.7M to settle police death suit where pathologist testimony was challenged
A lawsuit filed by the family of a man who died in Elk Grove police custody was quietly settled last year for $1.7 million, court records show.
Daniel Landeros died while being restrained by Elk Grove officers in 2016, after fleeing a wrong-way crash on Elk Grove Boulevard that police said was fueled by methamphetamine use. His family’s lawsuit against the city of Elk Grove made headlines after his lawyers revealed in court that the Sacramento County medical examiner who signed off on his autopsy had been paid to consult with the defense, a connection that was not revealed to the jury in his case.
An initial federal court ruling in favor of the city of Elk Grove was overturned by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ordered a new trial, citing false testimony from Jason Tovar, the former chief forensic pathologist for Sacramento County.
The settlement approved in December by Senior U.S. District Judge William Shubb in Sacramento releases all claims against the city and Police Department, and also ended a complaint that had been filed against the lawyer who led the city’s case and retained Tovar. It provides about $283,000 each to Landeros’ widow, Jennifer, and their five children.
Landeros’ autopsy, which court documents said was performed by Tovar, listed his cause of death as “sudden death during restraint and methamphetamine intoxication,” a copy of the report seen by The Sacramento Bee shows. In court, his lawyers argued that officers compressed his chest with their body weight, leading him to asphyxiate. He can be seen on a dashcam video turning blue and saying, “I can’t breathe.”
But during the trial, Tovar, who signed the autopsy report and read from it at trial, testified that he believed that cardiac arrest led to Landeros’ death.
“Dr. Jason Tovar, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on Daniel Landeros, made several statements at trial about his purported independence,” a three-judge panel for the 9th Circuit wrote in their 2024 ruling ordering a new trial. “These statements were either false or highly misleading.”
Stewart Katz, an attorney representing the Landeros family, said that the settlement made a new trial unnecessary and also eliminated a sanctions motion against Bruce Praet, the attorney who represented Elk Grove in the case.
A spokesperson for Sacramento County said Tovar retired from county service on May 9, 2024, three weeks after the appellate opinion was released. He was hired in 2013 as a forensic pathologist and in 2017 was promoted to chief forensic pathologist, according to spokesperson Kim Nava.
Tovar is currently working as a forensic pathologist in the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office, Chuck Westerheide, a spokesperson for that county, said Tuesday.
The lawsuit was formally ended in federal court last month.
This story was originally published March 6, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
