PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — A South Florida metropolis has reached a $2 million settlement with the family of a Black motorist who was fatally shot by a police officer after his car broke down on an interstate off-ramp greater than seven years in the past.
The metropolis of Palm Beach Gardens launched a press release saying it had reached a settlement Thursday via mediation with the family of Corey Jones. The settlement is for the total quantity lined by town’s insurance coverage coverage, which the insurance coverage service has supplied to pay since 2016, based on town’s assertion.
Fired Palm Beach Gardens Officer Nouman Raja was convicted of manslaughter and tried homicide in 2019 and sentenced to 25 years in jail for the October 2015 killing of Jones. Raja was the primary Florida legislation enforcement agent in almost 30 years to be convicted and sentenced for an on-duty killing.
Prosecutors contended Raja escalated what ought to have been a routine interplay right into a lethal confrontation with Jones, a 31-year-old housing inspector and part-time drummer.
Raja, of Asian descent, was in plain garments for a Palm Beach Gardens auto housebreaking investigation crew when he noticed Jones’ SUV at 3:15 a.m. on Oct. 18, 2015. Jones was headed residence from a nightclub efficiency by his reggae band when his car stalled on a darkish Interstate 95 off-ramp. He had a hid carry weapons allow and carried a handgun, bought days earlier to guard his $10,000 drum set, which was in the SUV.
Raja, sporting denims, a T-shirt and a baseball cap, drove an unmarked van the improper manner up an off-ramp inside ft of the SUV. Prosecutors mentioned Raja by no means recognized himself as an officer and acted so aggressively that Jones will need to have thought he was about to be carjacked or killed. Raja’s supervisor testified the officer had been instructed to don a police vest if he approached a civilian. He didn’t, nor did he pull his badge.
Raja had instructed investigators he fired after Jones pulled a gun on him, however an audiotape of their encounter led prosecutors and jurors to imagine Raja instigated their altercation.