Kurt Andras Reinhold’s family said Orange County’s homeless outreach team was not equipped to deal with the mentally ill and disproportionately targeted people of color.
A California county has agreed to pay $7.5 million to the family of a Black homeless man shot to death by a deputy nearly three years ago.
According to The Mercury News, Kurt Andras Reinhold died on Sept. 23, 2020, after an interaction with two deputies from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s homeless outreach team.
Authorities claimed Reinhold, 42, who had been stopped on suspicion of jaywalking, was shot after reaching for one of the deputy’s firearms during a struggle.
Prosecutors said their investigation revealed that Reinhold had not jaywalked but had instead broken a traffic law by crossing the street while the light was red, which gave officers cause to approach him.
“This is vindication for the Reinhold family,” family attorney John Taylor said of the settlement, according to The Mercury News. “There needs to be accountability when deputies use excessive force, and this is a step in that direction.”
In the wrongful death civil lawsuit, the Reinhold family alleged that the homeless outreach team in Orange County disproportionately targets and detains people of color and lacks the training to deal with mentally ill people. They also contended that Reinhold’s arms were flailing and were “incidentally” close to a deputy’s weapon.
Taylor added that the family hopes Reinhold’s senseless death will affect how homeless outreach officers engage with the people they are supposed to be helping.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office last February disclosed that it had determined the shooting was justified, clearing the deputy of any criminal wrongdoing.
OC Board of Supervisors chairman Don Wagner stated that the settlement decision — approved during a closed session meeting on May 9 — was made in light of a tragic case, noting that it was an opportunity all parties agreed would be a fair number to end the years-long dispute.
“There is simply no good to come out of this circumstance,” he added, The Mercury News reported. “We’re very hopeful that this gives the family some closure and we never see anything as horrible as this again.”
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