Four years ago, a Los Angeles police officer fatally shot 26-year-old Christian Eaddy in his Pacoima driveway. Court approves settlement.
Four years ago, a Los Angeles police officer fatally shot a 26-year-old African American man with a history of brain injury in his Pacoima driveway. Christian Eaddy had suffered the injury as a child and it had affected his mental capacity thereafter. The court recently approved the family’s settlement.
The department was called to the scene by the man’s family because Eaddy was exhibiting suicidal behavior on the afternoon of May 16, 2013. Specifically, he was stabbing himself with syringes and was carrying two kitchen knives while four other family members were outside on the driveway watching him. When officers arrived, they saw the man with the knives walking in circles, scraping the blades together menacingly. A witness stated Eaddy at one point told the officers, “I’m not going to hurt nobody.” He then complied with officers’ demands and dropped the knives into a shopping cart in the driveway, according to the family’s attorney, John Taylor, in doing so, turning his back to the officers toward the cart when the fatal shot was fired. However, The department has consistently insisted that Eaddy was still holding the knives as the shot was delivered.
The police had their run-ons with Eaddy in the past, so officers stated they had every reason to consider the man’s actions to be threatening. He was first struck with a stun gun, yet almost simultaneously, Officer Christopher Carr took the fatal shot from about nine feet away. The family says taking this huge leap almost immediately was unwarranted. And, they find issue with the fact that the fatal incident occurred only about 40 seconds are officers arrived at the scene. Emergency Medical Services were called and Eaddy ultimately passed away at the hospital.
The police chief and the Los Angeles Police Commission initially ruled in 2014 that Carr’s shooting was justified, and that the officer “acted lawfully in self-defense and defense of others.” However, City Council on Wednesday approved a $2 million settlement in court with Eaddy’s family, which was actually reduced to $1.43 million after jury members considered the details and discovered Eaddy was also at fault, attributing 35 percent of the blame to him. While attorneys for the city argued that Officer Carr was acting in self defense, and he was justified in using deadly force because the man had charged the officers, the council in court voted 14 to 9 to approve the settlement with the jury’s findings that the LAPD was negligent in the shooting and in violation of Eaddy’s civil rights. The payout to the family will occur over the current and next fiscal year.
“Litigation it seems is the only way to hold officers and the department accountable. There is very little accountability from [the] district attorney’s office and Police Department,” said John Taylor, the family’s attorney, of the court system. He not only questioned the officer’s swift jump from stunning Eaddy to delivering a fatal gun shot, but wondered why they did not wait for several backup units that were en route to the scene. If they hadn’t acted so spontaneously, perhaps the man’s life would have been saved.
Sources:
L.A. pays $2-million settlement in police killing of man with brain injury
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