Akron recently agreed to pay the Walker family $4.85 million in a settlement.
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Police officers are rarely found guilty in fatal police shootings. But often, cities pay millions of dollars in settlements to the families of those who died.
Since 2016, Northeast Ohio cities have paid out at least $24 million in settlements for high-profile police shootings. In the latest settlement, Akron taxpayers will pay $4.85 million to the family of Jayland Walker, even though a grand jury and an internal police investigation cleared the eight officers who shot him of any wrongdoing.
If taxpayers are tired of huge settlements, one expert said the answer is not changing the legal system, but rather improving police training and policies.
“The issue isn’t don’t settle these cases. The issue is, how do you get these cases to stop coming up in the first place?”
— Laura
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