Austin pays $3.3 million to settle lawsuit against police over fatal shooting in 2017
Claire Osborn
Austin American-Statesman
The Austin City Council approved a $3.3 million settlement Thursday of a lawsuit over the fatal
shooting of Landon Nobles by two police officers in 2017. The council also approved settlements in three lawsuits filed against the city over
injuries people suffered in the May 2020 protests against police brutality.
Nobles was killed about 2:40 a.m. May 7, 2017, at Sixth and Trinity streets after downtown officers reported hearing gunfire.
Nobles was running toward an officer who blocked Nobles' path with a bicycle, the district attorney previously said. Nobles fell down but then got up and started running, officials said. When he turned with a handgun in his hand towards two police officers they shot him, the district attorney has said. Police said Nobles shot at them first.
Nobles' family filed a lawsuit against the two officers and the city in April 2019 saying that Nobles was shot in the back. The officers did not instruct Nobles to stop, the lawsuit said. Nobles' cousin Royie Nobles previously told the American-Statesman that Landon Nobles was running from the scene of an argument in downtown Austin when an officer threw a bicycle at him, causing a gun Landon Nobles was carrying to go off.
After Nobles' family filed the lawsuit, the case went to trial in federal court in December 2021. The jury awarded $67 million to Nobles' family. Because the amount was so large and bucked legal precedent, the city and Nobles' lawyers were directed to negotiate a reduced number, but they failed to reach an agreement. A judge intervened in August and reduced the amount to $8.3 million. The city appealed the case in September, which led to Thursday's settlement.