Jury awards $11.5 million in 2017 St. Paul police shooting death
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Following a fatal encounter with St. Paul police in 2017, a federal civil jury awarded Kim Handy-Jones $11.5 million for the killing of her son, Cordale Handy.
On Monday the jury reached a verdict for liability, and found that Officer Nathaniel Younce was liable for using unreasonable, excessive force and causing the wrongful death of Cordale Handy after he responded with his partner Mikko Norman to a 911 call in the Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood of St. Paul.
Younce fired the first shots at Cordale, who was laying on the ground with his hands up, according to eyewitnesses, according to a press release.
The settlement was comprised of two parts, $10 million to compensate Kim and her family for the loss of Cordale and $1.5 million in punitive damages.
"It’s been a long six years… Justice delayed does not mean justice denied," said Kim Handy-Jones, mother of Cordale, on Tuesday. "The one thing that I did know is that my son didn’t point a gun at cops. I’ve watched him demonized, victimized, criminalized and demoralize my child, but today we humanized Cordale Handy… This won’t bring my child back, but hopefully it will help someone else."
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter released the following statement Tuesday following the announcement:
"My heartfelt condolences go out to Mr. Handy’s family and friends for their devastating loss… I am, at the same time, surprised by both the finding of liability and the magnitude of damages awarded by the jury in this case. Our officers responded to a chaotic and dangerous scene centered around a person who, by all accounts, was acting erratically and had already fired 16 shots before police arrived.
"I have always spoken clearly about the high standard to which I hold our police officers. In reviewing the details of this case, I simply cannot conclude that those involved had other reasonable options to immediately resolve this escalating crisis and prevent further loss of life without force."
Fatal encounter, lawsuit filed
On March 15, 2017, St. Paul Police Officers Mikko Norman and Nathaniel Younce were investigating a domestic violence report on the 700 block of East 6th St. in the Dayton Bluff neighborhood when they encountered Cordale Quinn Handy, 29, allegedly holding a handgun.
According to the police report, Handy pointed the gun at the officers twice while they instructed him to put it down. Both officers shot Handy, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
A firearm was recovered outside of the apartment building on East 6th Street and spent shell casings were found inside the apartment.
Video of the incident from a nearby building shows Handy holding a gun, but the rest of the situation happened off-camera. Norman and Younce were not wearing body cameras.
Following the investigation, the family of Handy filed a lawsuit against the officers involved, accusing both Norman and Younce of shooting him, "without cause or provocation."
The lawsuit accuses the officers of a conspiracy "to prepare false, misleading, and incomplete official reports, and to give a false, incomplete, and misleading versions of the events to their superiors and the public." It also alleges the officers, "falsely claimed that Cordale Handy placed them in imminent fear of bodily harm."
The jury did not find Norman liable during the incident.