Alaska city reaches $2.1M settlement with family of a 16-year-old fatally shot by a police officer

ANCHORAGE Alaska AP Alaska s largest city has reached a million settlement with the family of a -year-old girl who was holding a knife last August when she was fatally shot by a police officer Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance s office announced in a message Thursday the settlement followed a meeting between Police Chief Sean Matter and members of Easter Leafa s family Terms of the agreement were not circulated An attorney for the family Darryl Thompson validated the settlement amount revealed by the city The Leafa family was devastated by the loss of young Easter Sally Sadly they were all there to witness this tragic event and were powerless to stop it from happening Thompson reported in a report They have handled their loss with dignity and grace and are grateful that this phase of the healing is behind them State prosecutors last fall reported they would not file criminal charges against the officer who fatally shot Leafa concluding that the use of deadly force was legally justified Officers had responded to a call for help placed by one of Leafa s sisters who disclosed Leafa was trying to stab her with a knife because she had not done what Leafa desired according to a overview on the findings issued by the state Office of Special Prosecutions The summary determined the officer reasonably presumed he or another officer was about to be assaulted by the girl The sister later narrated investigators she knew that Easter Leafa was trying to give the knife to the officers the summary reported Leafa was one of seven people shot by police in Anchorage in a roughly three-month span last year She had lately moved from American Samoa and was still learning English her family has explained We want to protect everyone involved from having to re-live this circumstance in court LaFrance explained She expressed gratitude to the Leafa family for their desire to prioritize healing for themselves and the whole public LaFrance also noted that police officers have hard and sometimes thankless jobs and declared it s her responsibility to ensure they have the encouragement and guidance they need Source