Lost Angeles to pay almost US$2 mln for police killing of homeless man
LOS ANGELES: The city of Los Angeles will pay almost US$2 million to the family of a homeless man who was fatally shot by police in 2015 in a video-taped incident that went viral.
The Los Angeles City Council in a 12-2 vote approved the US$1.95 settlement that had been reached in May.
Charly ‘Africa’ Keunang, 43, a native of Cameroon with a history of mental illness, was shot five times by police outside his tent on a sidewalk in LA’s Skid Row homeless district.
Footage of the Mar 1, 2015 incident captured on a cellphone by a bystander was viewed by millions after it was posted online, prompting angry protests over police tactics.
Charlie Beck, the Los Angeles police chief at the time, defended the shooting as justified and city officials declined to file criminal charges against the officers involved, saying they had acted in self-defence.
In May of this year, a federal jury found two of the officers liable for financial damages in Keunang’s death.
Keunang, who was unarmed, was shot after police responded to a call about an attempted robbery.
Video footage showed how the encounter quickly escalated and turned deadly after a rookie officer shouted that Keunang had a gun. The settlement will go to Keunang’s parents and his sister. — AFP