MINNEAPOLIS _ The city of Minneapolis will pay the family of Justine Ruszczyk Damond $20 million to settle a lawsuit over her July 15, 2017, shooting death by a Minneapolis police officer, city officials announced Friday.
Mayor Jacob Frey announced the agreement solemnly at a hastily organized news conference Friday, flanked by City Council members, the city attorney and the police chief, all of whom had been in a closed-door meeting this morning. The deal requires the family to donate $2 million of its settlement to the Minneapolis Foundation's Fund for Safe Communities, a program set up to fight gun violence in the city, Frey said.
"This is not a victory for anyone, but rather a way for our city to move forward," Frey said. "And I do believe we will move forward together."
The payout is more than quadruple the previous record for a police-related settlement in the state of Minnesota.
Activists have alleged the case has been treated differently than other police shootings because the officer, Mohamed Noor, is a black man and Damond was a white woman.
Asked if the racial or gender dynamic played a role in the decision, Frey said, "Every claim and every case brings forward a different set of circumstances."
Damond was fatally shot by Noor after she had called 911.
The Ruszczyk family filed its lawsuit in July 2018, asking for $50 million in compensation for the violation of Damond's constitutional rights. The suit claimed Noor and his partner conspired to cover up evidence by not turning on their body-worn cameras and later hiding behind a "blue wall of silence."
Noor was fired from the force and convicted of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter by a Hennepin County jury on Tuesday.
Frey said the trial made clear that the officer did not face a threat before using force. This fact, combined with the unprecedented murder conviction, influenced the high settlement, the mayor said.
Earlier Friday, the City Council voted unanimously to approve the settlement, and Frey said he planned to sign off on it promptly.
Legal settlements are typically paid out of Minneapolis' self-insurance fund.
In comparison, the city paid $4.5 million in 2007 to Duy Ngo, a police officer shot by another officer who mistook him for a fleeing suspect. In another case, it paid $3 million to the family of David Smith, who died after a struggle with police at the YMCA in 2010. The city of St. Anthony paid $3 million to the mother of Philando Castile, who was fatally shot by police during a traffic stop in 2016.
