San Diego agrees to pay $30m to family of boy, 16, shot dead by police | San Diego
The city of San Diego has agreed to pay a $30 million settlement to the family of 16-year-old Konoa Wilson, who was fatally shot in the back by a police officer while running away after being narrowly missed by an unknown third party at a train station.
The payment is the result of a wrongful death lawsuit that Wilson’s family filed against the city in June, alleging “racial violence” by the police officer who shot the teenager. Family lawyers said Wilson was half black.
The settlement is considered one of the largest in response to police shootings in the United States. In 2021, the city of Minneapolis agreed to a $27 million civil settlement for the family of George Floyd after he was killed after a police officer knelt on his neck for nine minutes. Floyd said he couldn’t breathe during the arrest in May 2020.
On Jan. 28, Wilson was standing at the Santa Fe station when another teenager approached him with a gun and began shooting. Wilson ran away from the gunfire and passed officer Daniel Gold near the station corridor as he fled.
As seen on body-worn camera and surveillance Images released by the policeGold pulled out his gun and shot Wilson in the back as he ran, seconds after encountering him in the hallway. The footage shows Gold identifying himself as a police officer after opening fire.
Wilson was pronounced dead at the hospital 35 minutes later.
Although officers found a firearm during first aid to Wilson, Wilson did not brandish a gun or threaten Gold when the officer opened fire, the civil lawsuit said. The lawsuit accused Gold of committing “racial violence” by shooting at a running Black teenager.
The lawsuit alleges that Gold’s direct perception of Wilson as a “Black person” caused him to “advance systemic racism.” [Gold’s] decision to shoot [Wilson] when without warning [Wilson] appeared before him” and deprived the young man of “his life and freedom”.
Nicholas Rowley, an attorney who worked on the settlement on behalf of Wilson’s family. he told the New York Times Wilson had a gun at the time because he had been jumped by gangsters before, suggesting he had it for protection.
“The reason he had a gun was because he was half black and some of the new gangster kids in San Diego jumped him a few times and hurt him real bad when he was in the hospital,” Rowley told the Times. “He was scared.”
According to city documents obtained by CBS 8, the agreement was made as a business decision, not an admission of liability.
The Guardian contacted the San Diego attorney general’s office for comment.
