The joint statement conceded “no amount of money could ever replace Philando.”
Slain cafeteria worker Philando Castile’s mother has struck a nearly $3 million settlement with the city whose police force killed her son last summer, according to a joint statement Monday.
The Minnesota city of St. Anthony Village will shell out $2.995 million to next-of-kin Valerie Castile, the two parties said in an announcement that conceded “no amount of money could ever replace Philando.”
“The death of Philando Castile is a tragedy for his family and for our community, ” the statement said.
“The parties moved expeditiously to resolve potential civil claims resulting from this tragedy in order to allow the process of healing to move forward for the Castile family, for the people of St. Anthony Village, and for all those impacted by the death of Philando Castile throughout the United States.”
The agreement subverts “a federal civil rights lawsuit which may have taken years to work its way through the courts exacerbating the suffering of the family and of the community, ” the announcement said.
Monday’s settlement came less than two weeks after a jury acquitted former St. Anthony Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez of manslaughter after he gunned down Castile during a July 6 traffic stop. The police department fired Yanez the day he walked free.
“Damn, what is it going to take?” Valerie Castile yelled as she left the courtroom. “The system continues to fail black people and it will continue to fail you all.”
Yanez, who is Hispanic, had pulled over the African-American man for a broken tail light in a St. Paul suburb. After Castile informed the officer he had a legal firearm in the car, Yanez shot him seven times as he reached for his wallet or seatbelt.
Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, streamed his bleeding out in the driver’s seat to millions of people on Facebook Live.
“The important work of healing our community continues, ” Monday’s joint statement read. “The City of St. Anthony Village reaffirms its commitment to transforming its police department in partnership with the United States Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.”
The family of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old fatally shot by a white Ferguson, Mo., police officer in 2014, also reached an undisclosed settlement amount six days ago.
The kin’s 2015 wrongful death suit against the city, Officer Darren Wilson and then-police chief Thomas Jackson had asked for more than $75,000 in damages.
