Spokane weighs $3.65M settlement over wrongful death lawsuit, third since 2020

(The Center Square) – The Spokane City Council is scheduled to vote Monday over settling a wrongful death lawsuit for $3.65 million; doing so would mark its third settlement since 2020.

According to court filings, former Spokane County Prosecutor Larry Haskell declined to charge the Spokane Police Department officers who fired nine shots, leading to Robert Bradley’s death.

An investigation found that Cpl. Chris Johnson and Det. Trevor Walker had approached the man at his home after his neighbor called about Bradley walking around with a gun. A judge had granted his neighbor a protective order earlier that month, and when police arrived, Bradley grabbed his rifle.

However, Bradley never fired, and the officers admitted they didn’t see the gun before shooting, according to court filings.

“No one’s admitting any fault,” Assistant City Attorney Lynden Smithson told the council during a briefing meeting on Monday. “It’s an agreement that we’re settling the case.”

According to the lawsuit, the city and SPD were involved in more than 50 deadly force incidents since 2006, with only one resulting in criminal charges against the officers. Haskell, who retired last week, never found a single officer at fault in those cases since taking office in January 2015.

The Spokane City Council approved $500,000 settlement earlier this year to Bradley’s fiancée.

Smithson said Spokane’s insurance coverage has a self-insured retention of $1.5 million, so it must pay that out of pocket before the insurer takes over the negotiations for any lawsuit. After the settlement to Bradley’s partner and over $600,000 in attorney fees, about $220,000 is left.

Since the city was so close to that $1.5 million threshold, its excess insurance carrier, Safety National Insurance, stepped in and negotiated the $3.65 million settlement, which it will pay.

“The City of Spokane will pay the balance of its Self-Insured Retention in the amount of $222,123,” according to next Monday’s agenda. “Safety National will pay the entire settlement amount in exchange for a release of all claims and a dismissal of the pending lawsuit.”

Communications Manager Erin Hut told The Center Square that the city has faced three other wrongful death lawsuits in the last five years. A U.S. district judge dismissed a lawsuit over the death of David Shafer in 2023, but the city paid out another that year, with one more in 2024.

She said one was over the death of David Novak. According to the Spokesman-Review, SPD shot the man after neighbors reported that he had fired a gun at them, but it was actually a bat that Novak hit his own vehicle with a short distance away. His family received over $4 million.

The other settlement followed a lawsuit over the death of Peterson Kamo, who was allegedly holding a knife to his 2-year-old nephew when SPD shot him six times, four of which were in his back.

Kamo’s family initially filed a lawsuit for $23 million, but the settlement only reached $250,000.

“No other active cases,” Hut said regarding other wrongful death lawsuits the city is facing. “We have received a claim in the Jones-Hilburg case, but no litigation at this point.”