Civil Lawsuit Over Michael Brown's Death Nears Settlement With Ferguson
Photo by Elcardo Anthony
Photo by Elcardo Anthony
UPDATE 2: Michael Brown's family has received $1.5 million from the city of Ferguson. City Attorney Apollo Carey disclosed the amount in an email in response to an open records request.
UPDATE: A federal judge has approved a secret settlement in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Michael Brown's parents following his death in 2014. Although the amount approved was not disclosed U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber said that the settlement is "fair and reasonable compensation for this wrongful death clear and is in the best interests of each Plaintiff."
Read the original story below.
Michael Brown's family and the city of Ferguson are close to reaching a wrongful death settlement.
In a report from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Brown's parents, the city of Ferguson, former Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson and former police Officer Darren Wilson are nearing settlement of a wrongful death lawsuit over Brown's death back in 2014.
READ: Warner Bros. Is Working On A Michael Brown Movie
The lawsuit was filed back in May 2015, nearly nine months after Brown's death, with the suit claiming that "a culture of pervasive hostility toward African-Americans led to the death of the 18-year-old." The document also stated that Wilson used excessive and unreasonable force, and Wilson and other officers were poorly trained.
The settlement has yet to be finalized or approved by a judge and the amount will reportedly be less than $3 million ($3 million is the limit of the city's insurance).
READ: Lezley McSpadden, Michael Brown's Mother, Graduated High School
Once a settlement has been finalized and approved it will be made public under Missouri's open records law.
Lezley McSpadden, Brown's mother, recently graduated from Jennings High School in Jennings, Missouri, alongside her daughter Deja Brown. McSpadden gave birth to Michael in 1996 while she was still in high school and was unable to get her diploma since becoming a mother. However, upon joining an adult high school program at Jennings she was able to graduate more than 20 years later.
