“We defend police officers like every city employee, vigorously and zealously,” city attorney David Tourek said. Some of those cases turned out in favor of the city, but most have not.
A big payout went to the family of Alan Gomez. In 2011, police got a call that Gomez was holding his brother and another woman against their will. Officers thought he was armed when they shot and killed Gomez. Police later discovered it was a spoon. The cost of that lawsuit was $1.048 million.
The most expensive case involved the estate of Kenneth Ellis. He was pointing a gun to his head when he was killed in a January 2010 SWAT standoff. The lawsuit cost the city $8.305 million.
Then there’s the case of Christopher Torres, who was a mentally ill man with a violent criminal history. Police were serving a warrant for a road rage case. Officers shot Torres during a confrontation. In June, a district court judge ordered the city to pay the Torres family $6 million. The amount was later reduced to $400,000.
With nearly $12 million already spent on officer-involved shootings, it’s not over yet. There are still some major cases coming down the pike, including the case of homeless camper James Boyd. More
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