Facts

On Dec. 15, 2015, Benjamin Cooper was walking around outside the Shop-N-Go store on S. Jackson St. in San Jose while holding a knife to his throat, threatening to hurt himself. A Crisis Intervention Team officer spoke with him for a few minutes, but when Cooper appeared to be leaving the scene, still holding the knife, police officers fired less than lethal projectiles at him. Cooper filed suit against the City of San Jose.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Cooper contended that he lost vision in his right eye as a result of the encounter with the San Jose police officers, and the officers' firing of projectiles constituted excessive force, battery, assault, and violations of the Bane Act. Cooper alleged defendants did not attempt to deescalate the situation according to the best practices and their training, and neither defendants nor the public was in danger at the time the officers fired projectiles at Cooper.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS: Defendants denied that the use of force was excessive.

Result

The parties reached a settlement agreement under which defendants agreed to pay $215,000 to settle Cooper's claims.