The City of Cleveland agreed to pay $375,000 to settle a suit over the 2014 shooting of Kip Holloway.
Holloway, purportedly unarmed and trying to surrender himself to law enforcement, was lying face-down in a residential garage.
The 29-year old African-American man had caught a ride from two men he knew. Shortly after, he learned they were being chased by a security guard. His friends had, apparently, broken into a business.
Trying to evade the guard, Holloway’s acquaintance crashed after a high-speed pursuit.
Holloway, trying to escape, ran to a dilapidated garage. While hiding behind a motorcycle, Holloway heard footsteps and the crackle of a police radio.
The lawsuit says Holloway tried to give himself up – calling out that he was black, unarmed, and lying down behind the motorcycle, Sgt. Timothy Patton responded by firing a shot “without provocation.”
The single bullet fired passed through Holloway’s forearm. It exited the opposite side, ricocheted off the concrete floor, and entered his chest.
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According to the suit, Patton didn’t seem concerned by the 29-year old man’s now-dire condition. After shooting Holloway, he “yanked” him to his knees, pointed a gun at his face, and demanded to know where his “boys” were.
“Holloway was consumed with fear,” claims the suit. “He thought the police were going to kill him.”
Patton and his colleagues, say the complaint, rendered no first-aid at the scene, even though Holloway was bleeding profusely.
Following a brief interrogation, Holloway was handcuffed and forced to walk unassisted to a waiting ambulance.
Surgery at a nearby hospital restored Holloway’s health. But his troubles weren’t over yet – immediately after being discharged, he was indicted for breaking and entering and possession of criminal tools. Holloway remained imprisoned from May until September of 2014.
Midway through the trial, a judge dismissed the charges.
On Sunday, Holloway’s attorney Terry Gilbert described the bold-faced lies told by Sgt. Patton in court.
The officer told a judge that he’d shot at Holloway’s right hand, thinking the man was brandishing a firearm. But, said Gilbert, the claim didn’t make sense – his client was shot in his left forearm, from another angle.
“Patton’s story was so incredibly unbelievable,” Gilbert said. “Ultimately, the judge saw through it.”
Cleveland, writes ABC News in a recent article, has settled a number of police shooting suits in recent years – most of which involve officers targeted young and unarmed black men. Among the recent pay-outs was $6 million granted to the family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year old fatally shot while playing with a pellet gun.
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