Nearly six years after a Beavercreek police officer shot and killed a customer in Walmart, the city has settled a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of John Crawford III.
The 22-year-old Crawford, a Fairfield resident, was shot to death Aug. 5, 2014, by Beavercreek police Officer Sean Williams after a 911 caller told dispatchers a black man was holding a rifle, appeared to be loading it and waving it near people. Crawford was holding a Crosman MK-177 BB/pellet rifle that he found unboxed on a store shelf.
The city and Crawford family have reached a $1.7 million settlement agreement.
Crawford family attorney Michael Wright confirmed the settlement to the Dayton Daily News.
“We made a strategic decision to resolve the case for the family,” he said. “That was a negotiated settlement, so we thought that that was appropriate based on the law and based on our potential of losing in the court of appeals.”
Wright said that the wrongful death lawsuit against Walmart continues.
