Ezell Ford family lawsuit: $1.5M settlement reached

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The city of Los Angeles will pay $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of Ezell Ford, a black, mentally challenged man who was killed by police during a struggle in 2014.

The settlement was approved Wednesday by the Los Angeles City Council after Ezell Ford's family brought a civil rights lawsuit against the city.

The notice of settlement was filed in October, but its terms were not revealed.

In August 2014, Ford, 25, was stopped by two officers in a South Los Angeles neighborhood. A confrontation occurred, and he was fatally shot.

Initially, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck ruled that the shooting was within department policy, and the officers did not do anything wrong because Ford was allegedly reaching for an officer's gun.

A police oversight board later concluded that the officers did violate department policy, because they had no reason to stop Ford in the first place.

The commission's findings stated that Officer Sharlton Wampler was unjustified in shooting Ford and that Officer Antonio Villegas was wrong to draw his weapon but acted appropriately in firing it because he believed Wampler's life was in danger.