iStock/Thinkstock(LOS ANGELES) — The family of a homeless man shot and killed on Los Angeles’ famous Skid Row will receive $1.9 million after the city came to a settlement agreement on Tuesday.
Charly Keunang, 42, was shot by Los Angeles police in March 2015 after police responded to a fight between homeless dwellers on a downtown Los Angeles street.
The Police Commission ruled that Keunang had reached for a responding officer’s gun when an argument broke out, but the district attorney declined to prosecute, Los Angeles ABC station KABC reported.
Keunang’s family filed suit and the city was found liable for the Cameroon native’s death in a trial in May.
The Los Angeles City Council voted to approve the settlement agreement for $1.9 million with his family Tuesday, KABC reported.
The shooting generated major media coverage and resulting protests at the time.
“Anytime we have an officer-involved shooting and there’s a loss of life, people are upset and justifiably so,” then-LAPD Commander Andrew Smith said following the shooting. Smith retired in December 2015. “Nobody out there, no police officer out there, wants to be involved in a situation like this where you have to take someone else’s life.”
Protesters marched on LAPD Headquarters following the killing and 14 protesters were arrested in a Black Lives Matter rally in April stemming from the shooting, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Keunang suffered from schizophrenia, the family’s lawyer said in court, and he blamed Los Angeles police officers Francisco Martinez and Daniel Torres, along with Sgt. Chand Syed, for shouting at the homeless man and making the situation worse.
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