County Pays $4.5 Million Settlement For Hall-Wilson Shooting Case
County officials have agreed to pay $4.5 million to the family of a mentally ill homeless man shot and killed during a confrontation with a sheriff’s deputy in Danville in March, 2021.
The settlement, reported Thursday by the Bay Area News Group, comes on the heels of Deputy Andrew Hall’s conviction for felony assault with a firearm in connection with another, unrelated fatal shooting incident in 2018. Hall, now a former Contra Costa County Sheriff’s deputy then working under contract as an officer in Danville, was sentenced earlier this month to six years in prison.
Thursday’s settlement agreement stems from a lethal encounter between Hall and Tyrell Wilson – a homeless man brought to the attention of police after he was allegedly spotted dropping rocks onto cars traveling on nearby I-680. First contacted by then-Deputy Hall, Wilson approached the officer when asked to do so – then can be seen deftly opening a small knife. In Hall’s body-worn camera footage Wilson is seen backing away from the officer but refusing to drop the knife when the deputy, who had been “covering” the homeless man with his pistol, fires once – hitting Wilson in the face.
An attorney representing the Wilson family have said they will move to bring criminal charges against the former officer for that shooting, as well.
Hall was only recently convicted of firing on and killing another man during a slow-speed car chase through Danville in 2018. Jurors saw Hall stand in in front of a car driven by Laudemer Arboleda, 33, and fire 10 shots through the windshield and passenger side window. Hall had said he was afraid Arboleda, who was unarmed, was going to run him down.
Prosecutors argued Hall used unnecessary force and endangered fellow officers and bystanders who could’ve been struck by stray bullets. The jury partially agreed, finding him guilty of assault but deadlocking on a manslaughter charge.
“He (Arboleda) did not deserve to die for evading a police officer,” Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Terri Mockler said, “that is the crux of this.”
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Unbelievable. But then again — maybe not.
One of the stories you see today that leave you feeling so much and not knowing exactly what that feeling is.
How do they arrive at these numbers???
You are left wondering if they had “a talk” with the deputy after that first shooting. Like “don’t draw” your gun and “whatever you do, don’t shoot anyone else.” But that’s probably way to restrictive for police in this country.
Over $1.5 billion paid out in the last decade per WaPo for 25 large police departments. Cowboy policing costs more than actual law enforcement in dollars and injuries over time, and cowboy officers don’t just shoot criminals. Hall’s behavior demonstrated that, as one officer testified.
Nearly a million dollars every time he pulled the trigger. I’m guessing this was money the city had standing by for insurance purposes but it still makes you wonder what good it could have been used for.
I thought the sheriffs letter to his troops was interesting.
So now we have open dislike between the county’s major law enforcement agency and its prosecutorial arm. Terrific.
I wonder if anyone commenting bothered to watch the video or if they just know it all.
In which case?
This whole country is made at one another. Why should our DA and Sheriff be any different?
Yep. $9.4 million of “honor and distinction”. Maybe the DA isn’t the source of our troubles.