REPARATIONS

Family of Alton Sterling Accepts $4.5 Million Settlement for His Death 2016

Sterling, a Black man, was shot in 2016 by a police officer in Baton Rouge.

The family of Alton Sterling, a Black man fatally shot by police in 2016, has accepted a $4.5 million settlement from the city of Baton Rouge, the Associated Press reports. The lawsuit was filed by Sterling’s mother in 2017, and now that an agreement has been reached, the city will pay $1 million up front to Sterling’s children, and then the rest in increments over four years. Sterling was shot outside a convenience store after police received a call about a man holding a gun. The officer who shot him was fired and the other officer at the scene was suspended, although neither faced any criminal charges. “This settlement, which was reached through hard work and collaboration between attorneys for Mr. Sterling’s family and the Baton Rouge City Council, will allow the city to heal and provide a pathway for Mr. Sterling’s children to be provided for financially,” reads a statement from the family’s lawyers.