A $2M settlement has been reached by Arizona city council for the family of a 14-year-old boy who was shot by officer Joseph Jaen in an incident last year.
What We Know:
- Officer Joseph Jaen responded to a call of a car break-in in an alley on January 15, 2019. The officer then saw teen Antonio Arce in a gray pickup truck and pulled out his handgun as Antonio Arce got out of his vehicle and starting running. The officer then fired two shots in which one hit his rear shoulder blade area and the second missed and hit a wall.
Antonio Arce was shot in the back while fleeing. Since when do you defend yourself from someone running away?
Also, police officers are not executioners but more and more they seem to want to be.
— Xenia (zen-knee-uh) (@seneeah) June 26, 2020
- The 14-year-old boy later died in the hospital as a result of his wounds. A year ago later, Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell said the following:
“The City of Tempe recognizes that former Officer Jaen’s actions were wrong.”
- The city of Tempe also recognized that money can not compensate the life of a family member and placed the cop on administrative leave due to his actions on shooting an unarmed teen who did not present any danger and was simply running away.
- However, the police officer when placed on administrative leave, later resigned from the police force before the department terminated him. Even when the bodycam video was released, he was not charged with murder.
- The $2M settlement was approved due to the lawsuit Antonio’s family had filed against the Police department. The family stated various reasons but the most daunting ones were the following: Antonio did not present any clear threat of danger and Officer Joseph Jaen did not identify himself as a police officer.
- The following settlement stated that the Arce family could not add any more repercussions against the police department.
The Arce family later released a statement that they rather pay for Antonio to come back and not be “forced” to put a price tag on his life.
