Outcome could have been different

Editor: The City of Lodi has agreed to pay the family of Parminder Singh Shergill $2.66 million.

City attorney Janice Magdich said, “settling this case for $2.66 million is in the best interest of Lodi and its residents.” Let me say up front that I respect our police, and appreciate their service to the public. If it wasn’t for the police, we would live in a country of anarchy, a return to barbarism.

I realize the police are mentally tested to no end, with some of the characters they have to deal with. Being under this kind of pressure and mental state from dealing with the characters they deal with could easily make it possible for an officer to make a mistake. An officer then could conceivably have trouble acknowledging a mistake was made, and could make the same mistake again.

One could ask, why wasn’t an electric stun gun used? But the answer probably is, they didn’t have a stun gun.

Fact, these two officers knew this was a mentally ill person, who refused their oral command to stop. At this point the officers should have stopped and reevaluated the situation, and considered other alternatives. To continue to pursue this person, it turns out, wasn’t the right choice. He hadn’t done anything wrong yet, to pursue this person when he hadn’t done anything wrong, was the reason for awarding the family $2.66 million. Which only puts a tax burden on the residents of the city. JOHN SLAUGHTERBACK Lodi