Oakland settles police shooting suit for $40k, but victim was mentally ill and STABBED officer

[alp227]

SF Chronicle: "Oakland settles police-shooting suit for $40K":

The city of Oakland has agreed to pay $40,000 to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by the family of a mentally unstable man shot to death by police in 2003 after he stabbed an officer.

Officers Keith Clement and Tyler Fought shot Glen Willis, 47, of Oakland after Willis, a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, stabbed Clement with a 14-inch knife outside his East Oakland home on Aug. 6, 2003, authorities said.

No, the city doesn't owe the family ANYTHING - the man already injured the officer and thus they had to defend themselves.

[Capitalocracy]

1. Without knowing the details, that sounds about right.

I'd usually say a taser is the appropriate response to a knife-wielding assailant... but when they're already stabbing you, time to use lethal force.