Updated Monday, July 13, 8:15 p.m. EDT: The city of New York settled with the family of Eric Garner on Monday for $5.9 million, according to family attorney Jonathan Moore, the New York Times reports. The city had until Friday to settle the case before the family filed a lawsuit. Other investigations into the case—by the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board and state health officials—will continue.
Earlier:
Eric Garner’s widow, Esaw Garner, has reportedly rejected a $5 million offer from the city of New York to settle a wrongful death claim, the New York Daily News reports.
A source familiar with negotiations reportedly told the newspaper that the family’s lawyer, Jonathan Moore, has been encouraging the Garner family to accept the $5 million from the city and then seek more damages in a lawsuit against EMTs who were seen on video allegedly failing to give the 43-year-old Staten Island, N.Y., dad medical treatment.
According to the Daily News, the $5 million would have been one of the largest wrongful death settlements in a death involving the New York City Police Department.
Negotiations could continue up until Friday, the deadline for the family to file a wrongful death lawsuit before the statute of limitations expires. The family has already announced intentions to sue the city for $75 million.
As the Daily News notes, last week Esaw Garner expressed her unhappiness with the U.S. justice system and the seeming lack of accountability, referring to the recent proliferation of officer-involved killings of unarmed black men nationwide.
“It seems like because they didn’t prosecute the officers on Staten Island, all the other officers were like, ‘Hell. We’ll get away with it. Let’s just do it again,’” she told the Daily News.
Read more at the New York Daily News.