Value of a life and 41 bullets: $3 million
$3 Million Deal in Police Killing of Diallo in '99
By ALAN FEUER
Almost five years after Amadou Diallo, an unarmed immigrant from West Africa, died in a hail of 41 police bullets in the Bronx, his family agreed yesterday to a $3 million settlement of its civil lawsuit against New York City.
The agreement ends an infamous case that led to a hotly contested state trial, a federal investigation and ultimately the dismantling of the Police Department's elite Street Crime Unit. In widespread protests, dozens of politicians and others were arrested on civil-disobedience charges, and the bullet-ridden entrance of Mr. Diallo's home became a symbol of the racial tensions renewed by the shooting.
Just after midnight on Feb. 4, 1999, four police officers in the plainclothes Street Crime Unit confronted Mr. Diallo, a 22-year-old street vendor from Guinea, and fired 41 shots, hitting him 19 times as he stood in the doorway of his apartment in the Soundview section of the Bronx. The officers said later that they thought Mr. Diallo resembled a rape suspect and had drawn on a gun on them when they approached. The supposed gun turned out to be a wallet.
After the officers were acquitted of murder, Mr. Diallo's parents sued them and the city, saying that racial profiling by the Police Department was a cause of their son's death.
But yesterday, all the major players in the case — from the Diallos to city officials and lawyers for the four officers — said they were content with the settlement of the case, which had been scheduled to go to trial on March 1.
Under the agreement, neither the city nor the Police Department admitted any wrongdoing in the case, although city officials did express their condolences. "The mayor, the Police Department and the city deeply regret what occurred and extend their sympathies to the Diallo family," Michael A. Cardozo, the city's corporation counsel, said in a prepared statement.
But Mr. Diallo's mother, Kadiatou, said she felt the city had acknowledged the shooting was a mistake.
"An apology was given today on the record," she said. "The apology is accepted." She added, "What we lost cannot be replaced, but we agreed to join hands with the city and accept this closure."
