Family of Black man killed by police will be paid $4.4 million by Washington city
After an unarmed Black man was shot and killed by police in 2017, a Washington city has agreed to pay his family $4.4 million as part of a settlement announced Wednesday, officials said.
Giovonn Joseph-McDade, 20, of Auburn, was fatally shot after speeding away as Kent police officers attempted to pull him over for an expired registration in June 2017, according to The Seattle Times.
As part of the settlement — one of the largest in King County in recent years, the Times reported — the city will also design and install a bench in a city park to memorialize Joseph-McDade, officials said in a news release sent to McClatchy News.
“All loss of life is tragic regardless of the circumstances,” Bailey Stober, Kent’s communications manager said. “....This case has been on-going for several years and it was in the best interest of all involved to resolve the matter.”
Craig Sims, Joseph-McDade’s family attorney, told McClatchy there will be a news conference at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in Canterbury Park.
“This lawsuit was always about holding Kent officers ... accountable for taking [Joseph-McDade’s] life and the Department’s leadership for approving their behavior,” Sims said in a statement sent to McClatchy. “Giovonn should not have been killed by the police that night and his death was tragic and unwarranted. This settlement will not bring Giovonn back, but we hope it will bring his family one step closer to finding peace.”
Joseph-McDade led officers on a pursuit until he hit a dead-end road and reportedly tried to hit an officer with his car, Q13 reported.
That officer, identified as William Davis, shot into Joseph-McDade’s car because he said he feared for his life, according to the Times.
Joseph-McDade’s family filed a lawsuit against the city in May 2020 for violating car chase and deadly force policies, the Times reported.
The suit held that the officers “took actions that no reasonable police officer would undertake, in violation of clearly established law, with willfulness and reckless indifference to the rights of others,” according to the Kent Reporter.
In February, a judge declined to dismiss the civil rights lawsuit and said evidence presented by the family’s lawyers raised “serious disputes” about the officers’ lives being threatened, the Times reported.
Kent officials have said a King County inquest jury determined that the officers involved acted within police department policies and state law.
“This is a case that we were fully prepared to litigate and defend but recognize in the best interest of the family, the officers involved and our community we need to resolve the matter and attempt to bring closure to those involved,” Stober said.
This story was originally published April 14, 2021 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Family of Black man killed by police will be paid $4.4 million by Washington city."