It’s been more than a year since Philando Castile was shot and killed in St. Anthony, Minn., mere seconds after being pulled over by then-Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez. Now Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, is finally reaching some sense of closure after reaching a settlement with the city of St. Anthony.
According to WCCO-TV, the four-member St. Anthony City Council voted unanimously to award Reynolds $675,000 in a closed-door private meeting. Reynolds will also be given an additional $125,000 from the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust on behalf of the city of Roseville, Minn., because of alleged distress after being detained by the city’s officers following the shooting, the report notes.
Reynolds had served a complaint seeking monetary damages, among other relief, in relation to the shooting. Officials from the city of St. Anthony and Reynolds met earlier this week and reportedly came to an agreement on a figure. The agreement ends the possibility of future litigation by Reynolds against the city or any other cities or parties involved.
Reynolds and her 4-year-old daughter were both in the car at the time of Castile’s shooting death. However, the officer responsible for the shooting was found not guilty of all charges in the case. He was subsequently removed from the St. Anthony Police Department.
Reynolds released a statement Tuesday night about the settlement:
The settlement symbolizes that what happened to my daughter and I on July 6, 2016 was wrong. While no amount of money can change what happened, bring Philando back, or erase the pain that my daughter and I continue to suffer. I do hope that closing this chapter will allow us to get our lives back and move forward.
“If we don’t approve this and we go ahead with litigation, it would just reopen the whole case again and bring heartache to everyone involved,” St. Anthony Mayor Jerry Faust said of the agreed settlement. “It is best to settle, and this will resolve all civil litigation stemming from the incident on July 6, 2016, and it opens the door to continued healing within our community.”
Read more at CBS Minnesota.