Family members of Ronald Tinsley file a wrongful death claim against Marina.

Roughly seven months after a Marina Police officer fatally shot Seaside resident Ronald Chyron Tinsley during a traffic stop, a $25 million wrongful death claim has been filed on behalf of his four children.

On Jan. 18, 2026, while patrolling the Marina Heights neighborhood at 4:50pm, Marina Police Officer Shivdev Dhillon noticed someone driving a van without a front license plate, and recognized the driver as Tinsley, who Dhillon had arrested in June 2025 for felon in possession of ammunition, according to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office.

Dhillon then pulled Tinsley over and, as shown in body-cam footage of the exchange obtained by the Weekly, two additional Marina Police officers arrive before Dhillon ultimately asks Tinsley to step out of the car. The back and forth between Tinsley and Dhillon then escalates into a physical struggle that ends when Dhillon shoots Tinsley.

Attorney Rodney S. Diggs with the Los Angeles-based law firm Ivie McNeill Wyatt Purcell & Diggs – who didn’t respond to the Weekly’s comment requests – filed the claim against the city and police department, dated July 16, on behalf of Valencia Richardson-Whittington, Tinsley’s four children and their guardians, named as Cherish dela Victoria, Ashley Fulton and Ivania Melendez.

“The claim includes both wrongful death claims on behalf of the decedent’s (Tinsley’s) heirs and a survival action on behalf of the decedent’s estate,” the claim reads.

The document further asserts that Dhillon, “while acting under color of law and within the course and scope of his employment with the City of Marina and Marina Police Department, negligently assessed the circumstances presented to him and violently confronted Mr. Tinsley without having reason to believe, based on the totality of the circumstances, that Mr. Tinsley was a danger to the lives of officers or others.”

The $25 million claim also alleges that Dhillon was “negligently hired, trained and retained,” by the city and police department “in that it was or should have been plainly obvious to the City of Marina and Marina Police Department that Respondent Dhillon was a dangerous and violent employee,” and that the fatal shooting of Tinsley was the result of “unconstitutional policies, claims and practices.”

According to the City of Marina Human Resources Analyst Catrina Scharf, the claim has not been denied but sent to a third-party risk management group.