The Spokane City Council will start the new year by voting on a resolution to approve a half a million-dollar settlement to a woman whose fiancé was shot by police in 2022.
According to Spokane police, officers went to 41-year-old Robert Bradley’s home in northeast Spokane on September 4, 2022, to serve an order for him to surrender his firearms, as well as a protection order to stay away from a neighbor.
According to police, when they arrived at Bradley’s home, they found him in the passenger side of his van and approached him with weapons drawn. They asked to see his hands. That’s when officers said Bradley reached for a gun and they opened fire.
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Bradley fell to the ground and officers say he began crawling toward his gun. Police fired more shots. Officers then handcuffed Bradley and applied life-saving measures. Bradley died an hour later after being transported from the scene.
The investigation into the shooting took 19 months to complete.
Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and Washington State Patrol led the investigation and found one of the bullets fired by officers went directly into the barrel of Bradley’s pistol.
Investigators said that proved Bradley was pointing his gun at police.
In March 2024, the Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office ruled the shooting was a justified use of force.
Shortly after the release of the investigation’s results, the attorney representing Bradley’s family released a statement that stated Bradley had returned from a camping trip with his kids and was unloading his van on his own property. The statement claimed that within three seconds of police announcing their presence, officers shot Bradley nine times.
RELATED: Fiancé of man killed by Spokane Police says shooting was ‘ambush’, files federal lawsuit
On August 22, 2024, Bradley’s fiancé, Sarah McLaughlin, filed a wrongful death suit.
The suit said Bradley “was shot nine times at point blank range and killed in front of his fiancé and children.”
In the lawsuit, McLaughlin contends Bradley did not know about the warrant and a protection order that would force him to stay away from his neighbor with whom he was in a property dispute.
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According to the city council’s resolution, a mediation was held December 2nd. As a result of the mediation, Ms. McLaughlin agreed to dismiss all of her claims in exchange for $500,000.
The council is scheduled to vote to approve the resolution during the council meeting on Monday, January 6.
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