A Washington state county settled a wrongful death lawsuit on Wednesday with an agreement to pay $1.25 million to the family of Kevin Peterson Jr., a 21-year-old black male shot and killed by police in 2020. Peterson, a drug dealer who was armed with a 0.40 caliber pistol, was shot by Clark County sheriff’s deputies during a regional drug bust operation in Vancouver, a city located just north of Portland, Oregon.
Peterson’s death sparked violent Black Lives Matter and Antifa riots in the Pacific Northwest, where a judge was ultimately forced to resign after successfully predicting the outcome of the case: Peterson’s family would use their criminal son as a BLM martyr to gain compensation at taxpayers’ expense.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office has maintained that Peterson pulled out a firearm and pointed it at deputies before they returned fire on Oct. 29, 2020. Deputies on the drug task force had set up a sting operation where Peterson was expected to deliver 50 Xanax pills to a motel parking lot. When Peterson realized it was a setup, he ran from the scene and allegedly dropped his firearm. Deputies ordered Peterson not to retrieve his gun, but Peterson did not comply with the demands. He then ran to a nearby shuttered bank where Peterson was shot and killed, court documents show.
A Pierce County prosecutor cleared the two deputies of criminal wrongdoing after finding the shooting “justified and lawful.” However, an independent investigation conducted by the Lower Columbia Major Crimes Team in Cowlitz County found no evidence to suggest that Peterson fired his weapon at law enforcement. Deputies fired an estimated 34 rounds at Peterson, and investigators did not locate any 0.40 caliber casings at the scene.
The lawsuit, filed by the Peterson estate in May 2022, accused Clark County Sheriff Chuck Atkins and the deputies involved of wrongful death, negligence, and excessive force. A federal trial judge ruled in 2023 that the lawsuit could proceed. Clark County filed to dismiss the suit, but the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the county in July. A jury trial date had been scheduled to begin Nov. 12 in Tacoma before the two parties agreed to settle. […]
— Read More: thepostmillennial.com
