Darell Richards police shooting death suit settled, but what will Sacramento pay?
Days before a retrial was to begin in a lawsuit over the 2018 shooting death of Darell Richards by Sacramento police, the city agreed to settle the case, according to court records.
The only problem?
No one will reveal the details of the settlement agreement.
A notice of the settlement was filed Sept. 27 in federal court in Sacramento, where a retrial of the lawsuit filed by Richards’ parents was set to begin Oct. 4.
“Please take notice that the parties have entered into a settlement and resolution...,” a notice of settlement signed by the Richards family attorneys and Sean Richmond, an attorney for the city of Sacramento reads. “The parties jointly request the court to vacate the trial.”
The court vacated the scheduled jury trial date that same day and ordered the parties to file documents on the disposition of the case by Nov. 22.
But lawyers for the Richards family have not responded to repeated requests for comment since that filing, and the city contends there is no final settlement.
“A settlement agreement has yet to be finalized,” city spokesman Tim Swanson wrote in a Sept. 27 email. “The city will be sharing more information as soon as it becomes available.”
A subsequent request by The Sacramento Bee on Oct. 6 under the California Public Records Act elicited a response from the city Tuesday declaring that “the city does not have any records responsive to this request.”
The apparent settlement comes after years of legal wrangling, vigils, a lawsuit against the city by The Bee and a trial last year in federal court.
A jury deadlocked a year ago in that trial, with jurors informing U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez that they could not reach unanimous verdicts on whether police used excessive force, were negligent or on other claims.
Richards, 19, was shot to death in a Curtis Park backyard at 3 a.m. on Sept. 6, 2018, while suffering from mental issues and carrying a pellet gun that was a replica of a handgun.
Officers Todd Edgerton and Patrick Cox shot Richards 10 times after they believed he was pointing a handgun at another officer, according to testimony at trial.
Lawyers for Richards’ parents, Khoua Vang and Ted Richards Jr., argued that the shooting was a “botched SWAT operation” and that Richards was raising his hands to surrender when he was gunned down.
Police video of the shooting was played during the trial, and Richards’ family attorneys argued that officers violated department policy by not bringing in a crisis negotiation team to get Richards to surrender.
They also noted that Richards was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the incident.
Richmond, senior deputy city attorney for Sacramento, contended that the shooting was tragic but reasonable and that police had been searching for Richards for hours after receiving reports of an armed man pointing a weapon at people near the Tower Cafe.
Richmond told jurors that when confronted and ordered to show his hands Richards pointed the handgun at Officer Barry Tiner, requiring Cox and Edgerton to fire to protect Tiner.
The Richards shooting occurred six months after Sacramento police shot and killed another young black man, Stephon Clark, who they said they believed had pointed a handgun at them in the dark backyard of his grandparents’ home.
Clark was unarmed and carrying only a cellphone when he was killed, and that shooting sparked nationwide protests.
