The city of Philadelphia has agreed to pay the family of Walter Wallace Jr. $2.5 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed after Wallace was killed by police in October of last year, touching off days of protest and unrest.
The settlement came two days after city officials agreed to equip all patrol officers with Tasers — a demand the family made shortly after Wallace, in the throes of a mental breakdown and holding a knife, was fatally shot by two officers who did not have the nonlethal weapons.
Lawyers for the Wallace family, Shaka Johnson and Kevin O’Brien, declined to say how much the city agreed to pay to settle the lawsuit, saying the family wanted privacy. But city officials confirmed the sum.
Asked about the payment, the family’s lawyers called it “substantial.” At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Johnson said the settlement “reflected the tragedy that took place, the city’s role and policy failures that contributed to [Wallace’s] death, while also taking into account the factual complexities that this tragedy presented on all sides.”
Sources familiar with the case told The Inquirer that the $2.5 million settlement is the largest the city had ever paid in the case of an armed person killed by police.
Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement that he hoped “this settlement brings some measure of closure for the famiy.”
Wallace, 27, was fatally shot by Officers Sean Matarazzo and Thomas Munz Jr. after he approached them while holding a knife. After telling him to drop the weapon 23 times, the officers fired a volley of 14 bullets. Wallace died in front of his parents’ home in the 6100 block of Locust Street.
The officers went to the home after Wallace’s relatives called 911 and told a dispatcher that he had become violent during a mental episode.
Wallace was an aspiring rapper and a father of nine with a daughter due days after his death, and had a history of battles with mental health and a criminal record. His killing sparked protests in his neighborhood and across the city as people denounced the use of police force against him. His family and others questioned why nonlethal options like Tasers or shooting to wound weren’t used, why more attention wasn’t paid to his history of mental illness, and whether racial bias might have played a role in the shooting. Wallace was Black. The officers who shot him — Munz, 27, and Matarazzo, 26 — are white.
The family’s attorneys initially said a separate suit would be filed in federal court, alleging that inadequate police training and the Department’s failure to equip the officers with Tasers led to Wallace’s death. But after the city agreed to spend $14 million to provide Tasers and training to all patrol officers, lawyers for the family said no such suit would be filed.
In announcing the training reform and plans for Tasers, Mayor Kenney said Tuesday, “In the last year, the city has worked across institutions, departments, community leaders, and organizations to enact meaningful reforms, re-imagine public safety, and advance racial justice.
“While our work is not done, we remain strongly committed to these goals and to making our city the best, fairest, and most equitable that it can be,“ he said. “I am resolved to devote every remaining day in this office to bringing about justice and true equity in our city.”
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