Las Cruces Agreed To Pay $2.75M In Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Las Cruces Agreed To Pay $2.75M In Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Introduction

In a wrongful death action, the City of Las Cruces agreed to pay $2.75 million to the family of a deceased lady.

The woman was murdered on April 16, and the settlement is the first of two settlements. An officer from the Las Cruces Police Department shot the 75-year-old woman twice. The officer was sent to the woman's home in the 800 block of Fir Avenue after her daughter called 911.

According to the lawsuit, the woman made death threats against her daughter while going through a mental health crisis. The body camera of the policeman captures him approaching the home and having a brief conversation with two of the lady's family members as they quietly leave. The policeman then notices a woman clutching two kitchen knives. Before shooting her twice, the cop yelled at her for almost 40 seconds to put down the knives. The city has yet to confirm that the police officer killed the woman, but an investigation report confirms that he is involved in the shooting.

Public documents show that on June 30, the city and the woman's family reached a settlement in their legal dispute. On July 28, a judge in Las Cruces approved the settlement and dismissed the case. The lawyer claimed that the maximum settlement sum that could be reached was $2.75 million. He also reached a settlement with the City of Las Cruces following a 2020 incident in which an LCPD officer assaulted a plaintiff using a controversial grapple technique. As a result, the City reached a $6.5 million settlement with the plaintiff's family. The lawyer claimed that in that instance, the City consented to settle both a federal action and a state complaint concurrently.

In response to this report, the City of Las Cruces declined to comment. A city representative stated in an email that owing to ongoing litigation, the city would not make a statement. The wrongful death claim in state court has been resolved, but the litigation in federal court has just begun. In that instance, the woman's family charges the officer and the City with killing the woman without following the proper procedures and using excessive force on her. There is no cap on the size of the damages, in contrast to the state case. The lawyer expressed his eagerness to bring the full case to a federal jury in order to prove constitutional infractions.