Confidential
Settlement – $5,000,000Court
USDC Central
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Defendant
Daniel K. Spradlin
(Woodruff, Spradlin & Smart APC)
Gary R. Gibeaut
(Gibeaut Mahan & Briscoe)
Facts
On Aug. 3, 1997, decedent, age 23 and unarmed, was shot 11 times and killed by the defendant police departmentÆs officer. Before the shooting, the family had filed several complaints against the defendant police department.
On the morning of the shooting, seven police officers from the defendant police department executed a search warrant at the decedentÆs home. Wearing black hoods and battle dress uniforms, the police officers broke down the front door of decedentÆs home, tossed a ôflashbangö grenade and, at gunpoint ordered the occupants to the floor.
Prior to leaving the station, the officers notified neither the dispatcher nor the watch commander of their destination, at variance with past procedure, and placed their radio on ôradio silence,ö preventing communication.
Once at the home, defendant officer went to the backyard of the home, where he shot and killed decedent.
After the shooting, the police officers debriefed the incident by going to a parking lot to drink beer for two to four hours. At the time of the police raid, the decedentÆs mother, his 4-year-old daughter and his three sisters were in the house. They were taken by the defendant police departmentÆs officers to the station, where they were held. No criminal charges were lodged against them.
The three sisters alleged false arrest, false imprisonment, battery, assault and civil rights violations.
The defendants claimed they announced their presence and forcibly entered the house when they received no response.
Settlement Discussions
The defendants offered to settle the two cases for a total of $1 million, increased to $2 million, following several mediation sessions. The defendants' offer was $2.4 million prior to the last round of settlement discussions. The plaintiffs' demand was $11 million, reduced to $6 million prior to the final settlement discussions.
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