GA to Pay $4.8M for White Cop's Murder of Julian Lewis. Shot Black Man in the Head After Forcing Him Off Road to Enforce Broken Tail Light Law. Killer Cop Remains Free, White DA Still Holds Bodycam

 From [HERE] The state of Georgia has agreed to pay a $4.8 million legal settlement to the family of a Black man who was fatally shot by a white state trooper trying to pull him over for a broken tail light (pulled him over because he’s black).

The office of Georgia’s attorney general confirmed the hefty settlement amount Friday.

The trooper who killed Julian Lewis was swiftly fired by the Georgia State Patrol and charged with murder following the 2020 killing. But the prosecution of the former trooper, Jacob Thompson, stalled last summer when either an incompetent or liar white DA District Attorney Daphne J. Totten (racist suspect in photo) failed to get her grand jury in rural Screven County to indict him. [MORE]

Atlanta attorney Andrew Lampros said state officials agreed to mediate a settlement to avoid a civil lawsuit over 60-year-old Lewis’ death. He said the slain man’s wife, Betty Lewis, remains “hopeful but frustrated” that Thompson will eventually stand trial, either in state or federal court.

“This is a classic case of driving while Black,” Lampros said. “That is all that Mr. Lewis, I believe, was guilty of.”

Thompson, who is white, tried to pull Lewis over for a broken tail light near the Georgia-South Carolina state line on Aug. 7, 2020. When Lewis didn’t immediately stop, the trooper pursued him and forced his car into a ditch, then shot Lewis in the head.

Mr. Thompson drew his gun as he got out of his vehicle, he told investigators, and said he saw Mr. Lewis trying to maneuver his vehicle toward him, prompting him to fire his weapon. Mr. Lewis was struck once and pronounced dead at the scene, the report said.

Specifically, Thompson wrote in his incident report that he opened fire as Lewis was revving his engine and turning his steering wheel, as if he was trying to ram the trooper.

But Dustin Peak, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent, testified in September that this would have been impossible, because Mr. Lewis’s vehicle was inoperable after it hit the ditch and the car battery disconnected, The Associated Press reported.

Peak testified that dash camera video showed one second elapsed between the time the trooper got out of his patrol vehicle and when he fired the shot that killed Lewis.

White cop Thompson was arrested on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault a week after the shooting.

In a statement on Thursday, Hall & Lampros, the law firm representing Mr. Lewis’s family, said that “it is believed” that Mr. Lewis had continued driving because he wanted to go to an area “where he knew other people would be present.”

Francys Johnson, a lawyer for Mr. Lewis’s family, said that the settlement, which was reached last month before a lawsuit was filed, was only one step in the family’s effort to hold Mr. Thompson accountable.

Lewis’ family has called on District Attorney Daphne Totten to empanel another grand jury and try again to get an indictment.

Francys Johnson, a lawyer for Mr. Lewis’s family, said Georgia law allowed district attorneys to impanel new grand juries if a prior one declined to pursue charges. “We believe that this was a very strong case,” Mr. Johnson said. “The evidence was there and still is.” [MORE] Mr. Johnson said that Mr. Lewis’s family was still waiting for the district attorney, Daphne J. Totten, to release a police video of the shooting. Then, referring to the grand jury members, he said, “And it’s been shown now to 22 citizens in Screven County, but it has not been shown to Julian’s mother or his wife or his attorney.” [MORE]

The slain man’s family has also urged federal authorities to bring charges. The office of acting U.S. Attorney David Estes issued a statement last fall that federal prosecutors were “examining” the circumstances of Lewis’ death “in consultation with the FBI.” No further details were given.

A New York Times investigation last year found that, in a five-year period, police officers in the United States killed at least 400 drivers during traffic stops for minor offenses, including broken taillights.

Only five officers were convicted in those killings, and local governments paid at least $125 million in 40 settlements.

While the state admitted no wrongdoing in settling civil claims over Lewis’ death, Lampros said it still brings some consolation to his family.