Sacramento to Pay Only $1.7M to Stephon Clark’s Parents. White Cops Murdered Black Man, Shot at Him 20X Without Warning as he Held a Phone in Backyard and After he Fell to His Hands and Knees

From [HERE] The city of Sacramento on Friday said it had agreed to pay $1.7 million to the parents of Stephon Clark, an unarmed Black man who was shot seven times by city police officers in March 2018.

The payment settled the final portion of a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by his parents and ends the family’s legal action against the city, the city attorney, Susana Alcala Wood, said in a statement.

Mr. Clark was 22 years old when two officers in the Sacramento Police Department chased him into his grandmother’s backyard and shot at him 20 times, killing him. His death ignited widespread protests in the capital city and prompted the city and the state to change their policies around the use of deadly force by police officers.

In October 2019, the city agreed to pay $2.4 million to Mr. Clark’s two sons, then ages 2 and 5, after his family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city and the two officers involved in the shooting. A later court ruling left his parents as the sole remaining plaintiffs, the statement said.

The two white officers who shot Mr. Clark, Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet, did not face criminal prosecution because Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, a racist suspect liberal democrat declined to file charges. In fact she has Not Charged Any Cop in Over 30 Separate Shooting Investigations

Both white officers are still employed by the police department, a police spokesman said.

"The involved officers . . . fired 20 shots striking (Clark) approximately eight times," including shots as he was going to the ground and shots after he had already went down to the ground. At the time of the shooting, DECEDENT was unarmed, with nothing but a cell phone in his hand.”

"The conduct of officers Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet was willful, wanton, malicious, and done with reckless disregard for the rights and safety" of Clark, the lawsuit alleges. It says the officers violated Clark's basic civil rights.

At the time of the shooting Clark posed no immediate threat of death or serious physical injury to either Officers TERRENCE MERCADAL or JARED ROBINET, or any other person, especially since he was unarmed and since he was going to the ground or already on the ground when he was shot, including multiple shots to his back.

Officers did not give Clark a verbal warning that deadly force would be used prior to shooting him multiple times, despite it being feasible to do so and they did not issue appropriate commands to Clark. Further, the involved officers did not announce themselves as police prior to the shooting.

Further, Clark was not suspected of committing any serious crime, the involved officers did not observe him commit any crime, the involved officers had no information that he was armed with a weapon, and there was no information that he had physically injured anyone.

The involved officers shot Clark even though he was not an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury to the officers or anyone else and there were other less than lethal options available. Officers TERRENCE MERCADAL and JARED ROBINET did not show a reverence for human life.

The involved officers are responsible for every single shot they fired and this was not an immediate defense of life situation.

After striking Clark approximately eight (8) times, TERRENCE MERCADAL and JARED ROBINET did not provide or summons timely medical attention for Clark, who was bleeding profusely and had obvious serious injuries, and TERRENCE MERCADAL and JARED ROBINET also did not allow and prevented responding medical personnel on-scene to timely render medical aid/assistance to him. [MORE]

An analysis of police video footage by The New York Times found that the police officers continued to shoot Mr. Clark after he had fallen to his hands and knees.

The killing ignited protests to demand accountability, with demonstrators stopping traffic in downtown Sacramento and on a major interstate that runs through the city.

Mr. Clark’s brother, Stevante Clark, said at a news conference on Friday that he would continue to call for the officers involved to be fired, charged and prosecuted, the local NBC affiliate KCRA reported.

“There’s no reason I should be out here talking about my brother’s legacy, defending my brother’s legacy, when the officers who murdered him should be proving their innocence in court,” Mr. Clark said. “We always have to relive the death of Stephon.”

Stevante Clark said that he had organized a protest for Saturday afternoon and that events would be held throughout the weekend in honor of what would have been Stephon Clark’s 27th birthday on Aug. 10.

“Stephon Clark’s death was a tragedy that brought pain and sorrow to his family and to our entire city,” the mayor of Sacramento, Darrell Steinberg, said in the city’s statement about the settlement. “Everyone wishes this heartbreaking event had not occurred.”

Investigations by the city, county and state and federal agencies found that the officers acted within the rules of the police department and the laws of the state.

“The fact that the officers acted within the law does not diminish the tragedy of what occurred,” Ms. Alcala Wood said in the statement. “This case has led our city to implement meaningful improvements to policy, and it will continue to do so.”

Mr. Clark’s death prompted California to raise the legal standardfor when police can use deadly force to “only when necessary in defense of human life.” Previously, the law allowed for the use of deadly force when “reasonable.”

The Sacramento Police Department also updated its body camera, foot pursuit and use-of-force policies.