City Approves $600,000 Settlement In Police Shooting Case

AUSTIN, TX -- Austin City Council members Thursday approved a $600,000 settlement to a federal lawsuit resulting from a police officer’s shooting of an unarmed African American man who had raised suspicions of employees of a downtown bank.

The settlement was approved Thursday during the city council’s regular meeting. The council voted 10-1 supporting the settlement, with council member Don Zimmerman the sole member on the dais voting against it.

The settlement ends a legal battle that began after the family of Larry Eugene Jackson, Jr., filed a federal lawsuit stemming from his death. Jackson was killed in a July 2013 shooting after police detective Charles Kleinert responded to a call saying Jackson was allegedly trying to use the identify of another customer at a downtown bank branch.

Kleinert chased Jackson and shot him in the neck as the two struggled. Now retired from the force, Kleinert said the gun had accidentally fired.

Still, a Travis County grand jury subsequently indicted him on a manslaughter charge. But the case was dismissed once it moved to federal court.

This is the second settlement the city has made related to Jackson’s death. In August 2014, City Council agreed to pay $1.25 million to the dead man’s three children as a result of his shooting death.

“In these kinds of situations, nobody is made whole in any way,” the Austin American-Stateman quoted Mayor Steve Adler as saying once the settlement was approved. “But I want to thank the staff for diligently pursuing this and getting to a place that is the best possible solution.”