Family Wants $120 Million Because Their Kid Acted Like an Idiot

These stories always tick me off:

The family of a teenager armed with just a cell phone who was shot to death by Los Angeles Police officers at the end of a police pursuit have filed a $120 million claim against the city.

The claim was filed Monday by an attorney representing the family of 19-year-old Abdul Arian, who was unarmed when he got out of his car at the end of a police pursuit on April 11 that ended on the 101 Freeway in Woodland Hills.

An investigation subsequently found that Arian was shot by approximately 120 rounds by eight police officers. The claim, according to a news release, equates to $1 million per bullet in compensation for the grieving family.

Arian reportedly hoped to be a police officer, but was afraid of them, the teen’s uncle told KNX 1070′s Pete Demetriou.

Footage from Sky 9 shows Arian running away from his car after stopping, but pausing to point something at police.

A partial transcript of Arian’s 911 call said, “I have a gun. I’ve been arrested before for possession of destructive devices, I’m not afraid of the cops. If they pull their guns, I’m gonna have to pull my gun out on them.”

This family is trying to turn this into Trayvon II and create a big ruckus with demonstrations and such in the city, but anybody who saw the tape will have a hard time supporting this. I've seen the video from one of the other news stations, and after the kid exited the car he ran down the freeway with his hands clenched together in front of him, and then turned in what can only be described as a shooting stance with his hands together in front of his body pointed toward the pursuing officers. He apparently had only a cellphone in his hand, but he repeated this move several times before he was fatally shot. Given everything the officers knew at that time, this was a completely righteous shooting.

The city will deny the claim and the family will then file a lawsuit hoping for a seven figure settlement. This is one situation in which the city should absolutely refuse to settle and take this case to court. I just don't see a jury siding with the family given the evidence available, and any settlement would be a gross miscarriage of justice and a complete misuse of taxpayer money.