Widow of man shot by Mesa police reaches an $8 million settlement

Mesa has reached an $8 million settlement with the widow of Daniel Shaver, the unarmed man police shot in a hotel hallway.

Terms to the settlement include the “dismissal of all claims with prejudice,” meaning Laney Sweet could not file another lawsuit in court. A city spokesperson confirmed the settlement ends all litigation for the city and officers but would not comment further on the terms of the settlement.

Shaver, 26, was shot five times by former Mesa police Officer Philip “Mitch” Brailsford in January 2016 in a hotel hallway.

Payments for the $8 million settlement will come from the “insurer for the Mesa Defendants,” which includes the city, Brailsford and others, according to court documents.

A large portion of the settlement will be set aside for Shaver’s children. Sweet told The Arizona Republic she worked to ensure her children would have financial “long-term security.”

This is the city’s second settlement for Shaver’s family members. Last year the city paid Shaver’s parents Norma and Grady Shaver $1.5 million after the couple reached a separate agreement with the city.

In January 2016, Mesa police responded to a report of a man pointing a rifle out of a hotel window.

Shaver was confronted by six Mesa police officers in the hotel hallway. Police body camera footage showed Shaver on his knees, unarmed and begging for his life. Brailsford shot Shaver five times after he moved his hand near his waistband, indicating that he may have been armed, according to the police report.

Shaver was in Mesa for a work-related trip from Granbury, Texas. Police later found a pellet gun in hotel room that he used for work as a pest-control worker.

Brailsford was fired shortly after the shooting for violating department policies. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office charged Brailsford with seconddegree murder in 2016. He was found not guilty a year later by a jury. Brailsford was later temporarily rehired by the department to apply for a pension and took medical retirement.

The Mesa Police Department in 2018 confirmed the U.S. Department of Justice opened a civil-rights investigation into Brailsford. The DOJ subpoenaed all documentation surrounding the shooting.

The city has not received an update on the status of the investigation, according to a city spokesperson.

Sweet wants that the DOJ to bring forward federal criminal charges against the officers involved in Shaver’s death and “bring justice where the state of Arizona has failed.”