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The L.A. City Council has agreed to pay a $5 million settlement to the family of a schizophrenic man who was shot and killed by police in December. The family had initially filed a $20 million wrongful death suit, NBC LA reports.
Brian Beaird, 51, was a National Guard veteran who led police on an hour-long chase in December that ended with his death on live television. He was suspected of drunk or reckless driving in Cudahy, but did not pull over, instead embarking on a high-speed chase that ended when Beaird crashed into another car at Olympic Boulevard and Los Angeles Street. He climbed out of the wrecked vehicle and put his hands up, but was then shot and killed by the LAPD. It was believed that officers mistook the sound of beanbag rounds fired by other officers as gunfire.
A friend of Beaird's explained that Beaird was schizophrenic and probably panicked. His brother, John Beaird, told CBS that Beaird has called his family during the chase, scared, saying, "Why are they after me? I didn't do anything."
Another man was killed by police in a similar manner in Long Beach this past April. In a cell phone video that a witness recorded, Jason Conoscnenti, 36, can be seen running from police when he is fatally shot in the back. Officers may have mistaken the sound of non-lethal bullets fired by others officers as gunfire in this case, too.
