ESCONDIDO — The family of a man fatally struck by an Escondido police officer during an e-bike pursuit last summer has filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the city and the officer involved, who already faces a misdemeanor charge related to the incident.
The lawsuit, filed earlier this month in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, is separate from the criminal case against 35-year-old Escondido police Officer Jason Ingco.
The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office charged Ingco with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter. He pleaded not guilty earlier this month. The charge carries a maximum sentence of one year in county jail. Ingco remains on paid administrative leave.
According to the complaint, Jacob Illian, 39, was riding his e-bike near Rose Street and East Valley Parkway on Aug. 21, 2025, when a marked patrol car signaled him to stop for what police described as a “consensual encounter.” Instead of stopping, Illian rode away, prompting Ingco to pursue him in his patrol vehicle.
“Despite lacking any probable cause that Mr. Illian had committed any crime, Officer Ingco gave chase, pursuing the e-bike in his police vehicle,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit alleges Ingco struck Illian with his patrol car while pursuing him along a bike path. Illian fell to the ground, and Ingco then ran over him with the patrol vehicle. Illian died at the scene from “craniocerebral blunt force injuries.”
According to attorneys Tim Scott and Mark Fleming, who represent Illian’s family and estate, it remains unclear why officers wanted to speak with Illian. The complaint alleges he had been “unlawfully targeted and harassed by Escondido police on multiple prior occasions.”
The complaint further claims Illian was unarmed, had not threatened officers and posed no significant risk to the public.
“He wasn’t a violent person, he didn’t present a risk to anyone – again, there is no clear understanding of why it happened,” Scott told The Coast News.
According to the complaint, Illian lived with partial paralysis on the left side of his body from a previous injury, a condition that was apparent to and known by Ingco when he initiated the pursuit.
The complaint alleges the Escondido Police Department lacks a written vehicle pursuit policy and has no policy governing pursuits involving people riding bicycles or e-bikes.
The lawsuit also argues that the city has no written policy addressing the use of patrol vehicles on bike or pedestrian paths that are otherwise closed to vehicles, despite recognizing that patrol cars can be used as “deadly weapons.”
Illian was not the first — or last — person killed during an Escondido police pursuit, the lawsuit states.
In 2017, an Escondido police officer attempted to stop a vehicle for a minor equipment violation. The driver fled, crashed and overturned on East Grand Avenue, killing two occupants and injuring two others.
In 2023, officers pursued suspected shoplifters onto Washington Avenue. The fleeing vehicle lost control and crashed, killing one person and injuring another.
“Each of those two Escondido pursuits was begun over a minor offense, and each ended in a death that the City’s Department Instructions did nothing to prevent,” the complaint states.
Eight days after Illian’s death, another Escondido police pursuit ended with the death of Maria Toedt, who was unarmed, during a chase on Interstate 15 on Aug. 29, 2025.
For now, the attorneys said they will continue building their civil case without interfering with the criminal proceedings. They are awaiting responses from both the city and Ingco.
“We’re still in the very early stages of our discovery,” Fleming said.
Scott and Fleming are San Diego-based civil rights and criminal defense attorneys best known for securing an $85 million wrongful death verdict against San Diego County for the family of Lucky Phounsy, a 32-year-old Santee man who died after being Tased, beaten and hogtied during a 2015 encounter with San Diego County Sheriff’s deputies.
As the legal proceedings continue, Illian’s family is still trying to cope with his death, attorneys said.
“They’re devastated,” Scott said. “There’s a Jacob-sized hole in their life now, and they’re really struggling.”
