Print The city of Del Mar paid $3.5 million to settle a lawsuit by the family of Brian Villa, a detective with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department who died after a 2017 bicycle crash on Camino Del Mar. Villa, 54, was riding through Del Mar on Sept. 9, 2017, as part of the 100-mile Amtrak Century race from Irvine to San Diego, according to a lawsuit filed in 2018 by his wife, 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son. They alleged that he struck a small rut in the road on Camino Del Mar, about a quarter mile north of Carmel Valley Road. A witness said in a court deposition that he saw Villa’s handlebars wobbling. Then his front tire lurched to the right, launching him forward onto the ground. According to the San Diego County medical examiner, Villa died of blunt force head and torso trauma. He was wearing a helmet, according to his attorneys and the witness deposition.