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The family of a black man who was shot dead by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, announced Friday that they have settled a lawsuit against the city for $4.5 million.
Alton Sterling was 37 when he was shot dead by an officer in 2016. His family filed the lawsuit the following year.
Lawyers for Sterling’s relatives said the settlement would benefit his five children and would include “significant policy changes” for Baton Rouge officers.
“We hope that these policy changes, which focus on de-escalation, providing verbal warnings before lethal force is used, and prohibiting officers from using chokeholds and shooting at moving vehicles, will ensure that no other family has to endure the trauma and heartbreak of Mr. Stirling has gone through it and will create a better future going forward for the people of Baton Rouge.”
Sharon Weston Broome, the city’s mayor, echoed those observations, saying in a statement: “As a community, we must work together to implement changes in policy and in our community to ensure that no other families in Baton Rouge bear this loss, trauma or grief.”
The Baton Rouge Police Union did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday night.
Officer Blane Salamoni was fired and Officer Howie Lake II was suspended for death.
As early as July 5, 2016, authorities said, someone called 911 and reported that a red-shirted man outside a grocery store was carrying a gun, behaving in a threatening manner. Sterling, dressed in red, was selling CDs.
Surveillance footage shows Sterling pushing the two officers back when they appear and trying to pin him to a car. Lake attempts to ram Sterling with a Taser pistol to no avail, then Salamoni collides with Sterling on the ground.
Salamoni can be heard on the body cam shouting profanity at Sterling and then threatening to shoot him in the head.
Sterling looks a little confused and says, “What have you done, sir?”
Shots were fired shortly thereafter.
After Stirling apparently died, Salamoni could be heard gasping, and his hands were seen holding his gun. He began reviewing Sterling’s pockets and twice called him “the stupid mother”.
The US Department of Justice and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry declined to pursue the charges against the two officers.
Authorities later said Sterling had a gun in his right pocket and unspecified medication in his system.
The video of the confrontation on a mobile phone sparked days of protests. Sterling’s death occurred one day before Philando Castile was murdered by Saint Anthony of Minnesota Police.
Dennis Romero
Gabe Gutierrez, Anthony Cusumano, and The Associated Press contributed.
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