A lawsuit filed Monday in San Diego federal court alleges that a 39-year-old father of two, Jacob Illian, died after an Escondido police officer intentionally struck his bicycle with a patrol car during a pursuit on August 21. The incident occurred when Officer Jason Ingco, 35, attempted to stop Illian, who was riding an e-bike to pick up his 12-year-old daughter from school.
According to the lawsuit, Illian tried to avoid what he believed was a "consensual encounter" by riding onto a bike path, but Ingco followed and "deliberately accelerated, intentionally striking Illian's bicycle from behind." The impact knocked Illian off his bike, and he was then run over by the officer's car, the suit claims. Illian died approximately 30 minutes later.
Officer Ingco pleaded not guilty last week to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in connection with the fatal collision, with a trial set for September. He remains on paid administrative leave and is out of custody on his own recognizance.
The lawsuit, filed by Illian's wife and other family members, alleges excessive force, wrongful death, and other claims. It also asserts that Illian had been subjected to "targeted and harassing police contacts in the past" and that there was no justification for the pursuit.
Illian suffered from partial paralysis due to a previous gunshot wound to the neck, according to his family. He also had a second daughter and worked as a car detailer and in construction before going on disability.
The lawsuit contends that Illian posed no threat of death or serious bodily injury to officers or anyone else, and that Officer Ingco used his patrol car as an instrument of deadly force against a non-threatening man on a bicycle. The suit further claims that the city of Escondido lacks written policies governing the pursuit of bicyclists or e-bike riders, the operation of patrol vehicles on bicycle paths, and the use of ramming or vehicular force to stop a fleeing bicyclist.
It also alleges that the city has not provided officers with annual vehicle-pursuit training as required by state law. "These are not technical defects," the lawsuit states.
"A police department that adopts a generic template, never tailors it, leaves the authorization of lethal vehicular force to a cross-reference that leads to silence, and maintains no policy at all for the pursuit of bicyclists or for the operation of patrol vehicles on closed paths, has left its officers without meaningful guidance in precisely the situation that killed Jacob Illian." The suit lists several other pursuits involving Escondido officers that ended in deaths dating back to 2017, alleging a "longstanding and widespread custom" of initiating pursuits for minor offenses without weighing the danger against the need for immediate apprehension. Illian was identifiable and could have been safely apprehended later, the suit argues.
"No reasonable balance of these factors permitted the pursuit, the speed at which it was conducted, or its termination by vehicular impact." The Escondido Police Department and the city attorney did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.