San Diego to pay $30 million to family of teenager shot dead by police

The city of San Diego has agreed to pay $30 million to the family of a 16-year-old boy who was fatally shot by a city police officer as the youth was fleeing another teenager who had opened fire on him, U.S. media reported on Friday.

The settlement by the California city ranks as one of the largest in a wrongful death civil case arising from a killing by U.S. law enforcement, the San Diego Union-Tribune and the New York Times reported.

The sum for the family of Konoa Wilson, killed on the night of January 28, surpasses the $27 million payout received in 2021 by the family of George Floyd, whose death at the hands of a Minneapolis policeman had sparked a summer of nationwide protests for racial justice in 2020.

At that time, the Floyd settlement was believed to be the largest of its kind.

“I’ve never seen a city take responsibility so quickly,” said Nicholas Rowley, an attorney for Wilson’s family, according to the Union-Tribune. “It’s really noble. … It was an officer out there trying to keep people safe. It was a mistake.”

Neither Rowley nor the San Diego City Attorney’s Office responded to queries from Reuters seeking comment.

The payment, most of which will come from a public liability fund shared by several municipalities, covers the city and Officer Daniel Gold II, who shot Wilson, according to the reports.

As part of the agreement, the city stipulates the settlement was a “business decision” and was “not an admission of liability by any party,” the reports said.

Gold, who had been on the police force for two years at the time of the shooting, has remained on the department in an administrative capacity, the Union-Tribune reported.

Rowley had warned in a legal brief that he intended to seek $100 million in damages if the case went to trial, according to the Times.

The January incident began with a teenager drawing a gun and firing at Wilson on a platform of a train station as Wilson ran away, as seen in video captured by a surveillance camera.

Moments later the body-camera worn by Gold, who was running toward the sound of gunfire, captured his encounter with Wilson as the fleeing teenager emerged from a corridor of the station.

The video shows Wilson bolting past the officer and Gold immediately shooting the youth without warning from behind as Wilson screams in pain. Officers tending to the fatally wounded teenager afterward are then seen finding a handgun concealed in Wilson’s clothing. The youth died a short time later at a hospital.

The City Council, which tentatively approved the settlement in September, was expected to vote on Tuesday to formally authorize the payment, the Times and Union-Tribune said.