California

Appeals Court Overturns $4M Award to LAPD Officers Involved in Fatal Shooting

The officers were awarded the money after claiming Chief Charlie Beck discriminated against them

A California appeals court has overturned a jury's $4 million award to two Los Angeles Police Department officers involved in the 2010 fatal shooting of an unarmed black man.

The money was originally awarded to officers George Diego and Allan Corrales after they alleged LAPD Chief Charlie Beck discriminated against them by placing them on desk duty for more than five years after they shot 27-year-old Steven Eugene Washington, whose mother claimed had autism, reports NBC4 media partner KPCC. Washington's mother received a $950,000 settlement after she filed a wrongful death claim.

Diego and Corrales claimed that they were sidelined for so long because they were Latino and Washington was black, saying that they would not have been left on desk duty so long had they been white or black.

However, the appellate court overturned the jury's decision after saying that the officers failed to prove discrimination. The court also said jurors were not clearly told that they should mainly focus on the race of the officers, not the victim, when deciding whether or not Beck acted properly.

Read more at KPCC.

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