Tentative Award OKd in Slaying of Tyisha Miller

Attorneys representing survivors of Tyisha Miller, a black woman killed by white police officers in Riverside, have reached a tentative multimillion-dollar settlement with the city, according to lawyers and court documents filed Wednesday.

The documents say an agreement has been reached but do not specify how much the city would pay. But a source close to the case, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the city has agreed to pay $3 million.

“There has been a breakthrough in the negotiations,” said Los Angeles attorney Johnnie L. Cochran, one of the lawyers representing Miller’s family, in a sworn statement that accompanied the federal court filing. “The plaintiffs want to, and will, finalize the settlement expeditiously.”

The case contends that “racial animus” led the four officers to shoot the 19-year-old woman after she passed out in her aunt’s car with a pistol on her lap in 1998. Officers said she appeared to grab the gun after they attempted to wake her.

Attorneys on all sides of the civil rights case cautioned that the settlement is tentative. Brian T. Dunn, a Los Angeles attorney in Cochran’s firm, said the agreement is only “in principle,” and attorneys for Riverside would not comment or discuss dollar figures.

“The document speaks for itself,” said Gregory P. Priamos, Riverside’s supervising deputy city attorney.

Still, leaders of Riverside’s African American community, which was enraged by the shooting, greeted news of the possible deal as a significant step in a healing process.

“There are a lot of questions that have not been answered” about the shooting, said the Rev. Jerry Louder, pastor of the New Jerusalem Christian Center in Riverside and the president of the U.S. Pastors Assn., an organization of 85,000 African American pastors.

“But we will sacrifice the truth in order to facilitate healing. It’s good for the city.”

The Rev. Bernell Butler, Miller’s cousin and a family spokesman, said the family was taken by surprise by word of the tentative settlement.

“It was my understanding that we had stopped negotiating . . . and were not going to accept anything less than $10 million,” he said. “I don’t want to be sold out.”

Butler acknowledged, however, that the family gave its attorneys “the power to negotiate in good faith.”

The documents were filed before a final agreement because lawyers representing the family, city and other parties are asking a federal judge for a temporary stay in the lawsuit. They are seeking the stay to pursue the settlement and allow the appeal of a judge’s recent decision disqualifying attorneys representing the city for potential conflict of interest.

The family also has sued five police officers--the four who shot Miller and a sergeant. The officers have been fired, and it remained unclear late Wednesday what effect a settlement with the city would have on the civil claims against the officers.

The city’s insurance carrier has been involved in the settlement discussions as well. Riverside has already met a $500,000 insurance policy deductible with legal expenses in the case, so any settlement or judgment will not come out of the city treasury, Priamos said.

The shooting stirred allegations that the Riverside Police Department is racist, and prompted the U.S. attorney’s office to launch an investigation of the Riverside police force.

The incident, which drew national attention, also prompted the city to adopt a series of reforms designed to improve the relationship between the Police Department and the city’s minority communities.

On Tuesday, the city named nine community leaders to a Police Review Commission that will investigate complaints against the department, including charges of discrimination or excessive force.