Avery Cody Jr, 16

Compton, California
July 05, 2009

Agencies: Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department California LASD

Cause of death: Shooting


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Last updated: almost 6 years ago

Overview

Avery Cody Jr., a 16-year-old black youth, was shot by a sheriff's deputy and died July 5 at Alondra Boulevard and Poinsettia Avenue in Compton, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's office.

The parents of a Compton teen fatally shot by a Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy are expected to get half a million dollars in a settlement that comes on the heels of a dramatic mistrial earlier this year, according to sources close to the case.

In March, a judge abruptly ended the wrongful death case of Avery Cody Jr. after the attorney for the slain 16-year-old's family announced in court that he had a videotape that he said contradicted sworn statements made by the deputy.

The video, according to the attorney, showed Deputy Sergio Reyes touching Cody's body after he shot the youth, even though Reyes said in sworn statements that he never touched the body. The surprise evidence was the second instance in which the deputy's account of the 2009 shooting and its aftermath appeared to be contradicted by video evidence.

The other was the deputy's statement that he took cover behind a metal newspaper rack; it was refuted by surveillance video from a nearby doughnut shop. Attorneys said Reyes made the statement to exaggerate the danger the deputy felt he was in when he shot Cody.

Attorneys for Cody's parents, who are suing the county, said Friday's testimony is the second significant inconsistency to arise in the case of the July 2009 shooting. The other was when Deputy Sergio Reyes' account of taking cover behind a metal newspaper rack was contradicted by a surveillance video obtained from a nearby doughnut shop, attorneys said.

"Let's get real here. You wanted to convince the detectives that you were under fire. And so you told them that you took cover behind a blue newspaper rack," said plaintiff's attorney John Sweeney to Reyes during an earlier deposition. "Subsequently you saw the video, and you saw that you came nowhere near that before shooting."

A Compton teenager fatally shot in the back by a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy in 2009 was not holding a gun, according to the testimony of one eyewitness who sharply contradicted the sheriff's official account of the shooting.

A grainy video of 16-year-old Avery Cody's final moments shows the right-handed teen with an object in his left hand — which his family and friends have said was a cellphone, not the revolver that sheriff's deputies say they recovered at the scene.