By Henry K. Lee
San Francisco Chronicle
OAKLAND,
Calif. — The city of Oakland is expected to pay $1.5 million to settle
a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by the family of a man who was
shot in the back and killed by a police sergeant.
Sgt. Pat
Gonzales shot Gary King Jr., 20, of Oakland on Sept. 20, 2007, near
54th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way in North Oakland. King fit
the description of a "person of interest" in a killing that happened
the month before, and officers found a loaded gun on him after the
shooting, police have said.
But in their lawsuit, King's parents,
Gary and Catherine King, said their son "did not pose a significant and
immediate threat of death or serious physical injury" to police and
that the shooting constituted excessive force.
Gonzales "created
the situation where deadly force was used," said the lawsuit, which
named the sergeant, the city and former Police Chief Wayne Tucker as
defendants. Among the plaintiffs was King's child, who was born last
year.
The City Council discussed the settlement in closed session in July and is expected to ratify it Sept. 22.
In
a memo to the council this month, Assistant City Attorney Randolph Hall
urged that the deal be approved "to avoid the risk of an adverse jury
verdict and exposure to civil damages and attorneys' fees."
Police
have said King ignored Gonzales' efforts to detain him and shook off
the effects of a stun gun before the officer opened fire. Gonzales
thought King was reaching for a handgun, police said.
Gonzales has been the supervisor of a police crime-reduction team, a department firearms instructor and a SWAT team member.
He
has been cleared of wrongdoing in two other shootings since 2002, one
of which was fatal. He was wounded March 21 by a suspect in East
Oakland who killed four other officers.