The Denver City Council on Monday signed off on a $1 million settlement with the family of a 17-year-old girl who was shot to death by police through the windows of a stolen car.
Jessica Hernandez’s death in January 2015 in a Park Hill alley ignited dueling sympathies for the police officers who believed they were in danger and for the family and friends of a teenager who still was finding her path. It also put the spotlight on Denver police’s policy of allowing officers to shoot at moving cars, prompting a change.
Now, officers may not shoot at a moving car unless they are returning fire.
City officials and Qusair Mohamedbhai, the attorney for Hernandez’s parents, Laura Rosales and Jose Hernandez, announced the settlement last week. Mayor Michael Hancock’s administration has said it agreed to resolve the family’s claim — agreeing to the payout and several other non-monetary conditions — to avoid a drawn-out lawsuit.
On Monday night, the council approved the deal in an 11-0 block vote. None of the members commented on the settlement.
Hernandez’s parents won several concessions in the settlement agreement, including that Denver police will allow the Hernandez family to select a representative for a new committee helping to rewrite its use-of-force policy. Denver police will host a community meeting focused on justice in the Latino and LGBTQ communities, and the department also agreed to no longer voluntarily release criminal histories on people shot by officers.
Before the shooting, Hernandez and four friends had stayed out all night and had fallen asleep in the car, which prompted neighbors to call police. Officers involved in Hernandez’s shooting ultimately were cleared of wrongdoing by the district attorney and Police Chief Robert White.
The settlement is significant, ranking high among the city of Denver’s recent payouts for jail and police incidents. But it’s dwarfed by two issued in 2014 — $6 million to the family of Marvin Booker, a homeless street preacher who died after a struggle with jail deputies while he was an inmate, and $3.25 million to Jamal Hunter, an inmate who survived a choking by one deputy and a brutal attack by other inmates.
