Mpls. to pay $3M in police misconduct case
Published 1:22 pm Saturday, May 25, 2013
MINNEAPOLIS — The city of Minneapolis has agreed to pay more than $3 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of a man who died after struggling with police at the Minneapolis YMCA.
Twenty-eight-year-old David Smith died in 2010, about a week after officers used a Taser gun on him and restrained him by putting him on his stomach, and putting their knees on his back.
The city will pay the Smith family $1.1 million. The rest of the settlement will go toward attorneys’ fees.
Minneapolis city attorney Susan Segal said in a statement that the settlement is a responsible way to end the case in the face of mounting legal costs.
Police Chief Janee Harteau calls the situation tragic and expressed sympathy to Smith’s family.