Chicago Prepares to Pay $5,000,000 to Family of Teen Shot 16 Times by Officer

Chicago officials are prepared to approve a $5 million settlement with the family of a black teenager who died when he was shot 16 times by a police officer on the Southwest Side, reports the Chicago Tribune.

The settlement with Tina Hunter, the mother of Laquan McDonald, is to be discussed at Monday’s monthly finance-committee meeting at City Hall, according to an agenda for the meeting posted online Friday, the Tribune writes.

The family has not filed a lawsuit, but Hunter is the administrator of her son’s estate in Cook County probate court.

Laquan, 17, allegedly brandished a knife when officers confronted him Oct. 20 after responding to a call about attempted car break-ins, according to reports from the Chicago police and the Fraternal Order of Police, the report says. An officer shot him after he allegedly ignored commands to drop the knife and police tried to box the teen in with two squad cars, the report says.

A spokesman for the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office said the autopsy found that Laquan was shot 16 times in the chest, neck, back, arms and right leg, the report says. He was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital about an hour later.

The officer, whose name has not been made public, has been stripped of his police powers and put on paid desk duty pending the outcome of an investigation.

Read more at the Chicago Tribune.