The family of Ramarley Graham, an unarmed 18-year-old who was killed by an NYPD officer three years ago, has agreed to a $3.9 million settlement with New York City. In a lawsuit filed a year ago, Graham’s family sought damages for emotional distress and their treatment by the police.
Officer Richard Haste shot Graham on February 2, 2012, after chasing the teen to his Bronx home and entering the apartment without a warrant. Haste said that he had received a radio transmission suggesting that Graham was armed and that he had seen the 18-year-old reach for his waistband. The police claimed that Graham had been seen participating in a drug deal, and a small bag of pot was found in the bathroom where he died. Graham’s grandmother and little brother witnessed the shooting, and Haste is said to have threatened to also shoot the 58-year-old woman before pushing her into a vase.
Haste has twice avoided prosecution for Graham’s death: While he was initially indicted for manslaughter, a judge threw the case out on a technicality. A second grand jury declined to indict him. He and the other cops involved in the incident remain the subjects of a civil-rights investigation.
