Jury awards $8.5 million to family of man fatally restrained on San Diego bus

Teri Figueroa, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Nov 7, 2025

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SAN DIEGO — A jury on Friday awarded $8.5 million to the parents of a bus passenger who died after another passenger restrained him for several minutes during an altercation on a San Diego bus.

The San Diego Superior Court jury found the San Diego County Metropolitan Transit System was liable for 40% of the award. The jury unanimously found that the agency’s negligence was a substantial factor in the 2022 death of Anthony McGaff.

San Diego police said shortly after the incident that the bus was on F Street near 14th Street in downtown San Diego on the evening of April 30, 2022, where the bus stopped after McGaff and a female passenger got into an altercation. A 56-year-old male passenger witnessed it and intervened, restraining McGaff for several minutes. The civil suit alleged the restraint lasted eight minutes.

McGaff lost consciousness and died that night at a hospital.

Police initially arrested the male passenger on suspicion of murder, but prosecutors declined to file changes at that time, opting instead for further investigation. Two months later, he was arraigned on a charge of involuntary manslaughter. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to probation.

The jury in the civil trial found that the man who restrained McGaff shared 40% of the responsibility. He was not a part of the suit and is not liable for any share of the verdict award. Additionally, the jury found that while McGaff himself was negligent during the incident, his negligence was not a substantial factor in his death, and he shared no responsibility in his own death.

MTS issued a statement Friday afternoon saying it “respects the jury’s decision, and the safety of passengers and employees continues to be our top priority.”

“Our agency remains steadfast in our commitment to providing a safe transit environment for everyone who rides with us. MTS will continue working closely with law enforcement and our security teams, including the recently expanded Bus Enforcement Special Team, to ensure the Trolley and bus network remain safe and welcoming for all riders, and our front line employees,” the agency said.

At a news conference in front of the Hall of Justice downtown following the verdict, Angela McGaff said, “What I have always wanted is justice for my son.”

His father, James Smith, said he was “simply overjoyed that my son got his justice.”

“I want everybody to remember him as a young, intelligent man with a lot of ambition, and he had a very bright future ahead of him,” Smith later said.

Attorney John Gomez, whose firm represented the parents, called it “a beautiful day for justice.”

According to the civil complaint, after McGaff got on the bus, a woman started recording him with her cellphone. He asked her to stop. She refused, and they began to argue, according to the complaint.

At some point, a fellow passenger intervened and put McGaff in a chokehold — “the grasp getting tighter and tighter as other passengers watched in horror and disbelief,” the initial civil complaint alleged. The two eventually fell to the floor of the bus, and the choking continued, according to the complaint. The driver did not stop the bus.

A trial brief filed on behalf of MTS said McGaff confronted the woman and grabbed her cellphone and threw it to the ground. The bus driver told him to sit down and radioed for immediate assistance as per MTS protocol. The bus at that point was on state Route 94, and it was not safe to pull over, the driver reported. She pulled over at the first bus stop, traveling two blocks after exiting the freeway at F Street.

CBS 8 posted surveillance video of the incident, which was played in court. The video shows McGaff snatching the woman’s phone and throwing it to the ground. When she digs a second phone out of her purse, he grabs it and walks away. She chases and grabs him from behind. That is when other passengers intervene and restrain McGaff, struggling until they bring him to the ground. One man stays on top of McGaff’s torso, the other appears to sit on his legs.