AURORA | The City of Aurora has agreed to pay a stunning $2.6 million in a settlement with the family of an unarmed black man shot dead by a city SWAT officer in 2015.
The deal also calls for the city to increase the use of police officer body cameras and adds layers of oversight and review to future police shootings, according to a statement from the family’s lawyers.
Officials said $500,000 comes from city funds, the balance is paid by a city insurance policy.
A Jefferson County grand jury last December cleared officer Paul Jerothe of criminal wrongdoing in the shooting of Naeschylus Vinzant-Carter on March 6, 2015. Police said Vinzant-Carter was being arrested and appeared to be reaching in his pocket when Jerothe shot him.
Police later learned Vinzant-Carter — who was wanted on kidnapping, escape and other charges — was unarmed.
Qusair Mohamedbhai, one of the lawyers who represented the family, said it was important to the family that any settlement with the city include policy changes.
“The Carter family are extremely thoughtful, peaceful folks who just are trying to cope with this incredible loss and really trying to help our community through positive social reform,” he said.
While cities across the country have erupted in sometimes violent protests over the police shootings of unarmed or armed blacks, Aurora protests were peaceful, even after the results of the investigation were released last year.
Mohamedbhai said part of the reason for the calm after Vinzant-Carter’s death was the city’s willingness to work closely with the family. The two sides even issued a joint statement in 2015.
“They made sincere efforts to make the best of this tragedy,” he said of the city officials who met with the family.
Bernadette Carter-Allen , who had three children with Vinzant-Carter, said he was an amazing father who always wanted a family.
Other families faced with similar situations should be willing to listen when they met with city leaders, she said, and they should avoid the sorts of violence other cities have dealt with.
“Violence its not going to do anything but make another tragedy and have another family with loss,” she said. “It’s not worth it, it’s not worth more heartache.”
Aurora police SGt. Bob Wesner, president of Aurora Police Association, said the officer union was pleased that the process played out the way it was supposed to.
As for the settlement, Wesner said he didn’t have a problem with it.
“It’s simply the legal process that takes place,” he said.
The department’s rank-and-file officers were proud of the fact that in the weeks after the shooting Aurora didn’t erupt in violence the way other cities have, he said.
“The reaction the days after the incident were a direct result of the relationships that the police department and our officers have with our community,” he said.
The $2.6 million settlement is the biggest in Aurora’s history, officials said. In the past, Aurora paid more than $600,000 to an unarmed man killed during a prostitution sting and more than $100,000 to an auto parts thief shot trying to flee officers.
Mohamedbhai’s law firm, Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC. in Denver, previously negotiated a $3.35 million settlement with Denver on behalf of an inmate beaten inside that city’s jail.
According to the grand jury report, Jerothe was 10 to 15 feet away from Vinzant-Carter when he fired, the grand jury report said. Several other officers were on the scene and none of them fired their weapons. Jerothe, a nine-year APD veteran, believed Vinzant-Carter was going make good on statements he made to police in 2013 that he would shoot it out with officers rather than go back to prison.
“Officer Jerothe believed that Mr. Vinzant was going to shoot. Officer Jerothe testified he thought he was going to be killed,” the report said.
According to investigators, Vinzant-Carter was standing with his left hand holding a cell phone to his ear — though phone records indicate he was not actually making a call — and his right hand in his pocket when he was shot, the report said. Jerothe testified Vinzant-Carter jerked his right arm back, and other officers testified the jerking motion was similar to a person pulling a gun, not someone raising their hands to surrender, the report said.
Jerothe then fired one shot from his M-4 rifle, striking Vinzant-Carter in the chest. He later died at a local hospital.
After officers found only a set of keys in Vinzant-Carter’s pocket and not a gun, Jerothe testified that he “kind of locked up,” the report said.
“Officer Jerothe had been absolutely convinced he was about to be shot and killed and other officers placed in jeopardy of being shot unless he acted first,” the report continued. “Upon seeing no weapon he became emotionally upset. Officer Jerothe has no memory of what he said to anyone immediately after the shooting.”