The family of Jerame Reid reached a tentative settlement in a federal lawsuit filed after Bridgeton police officers shot and killed the 36-year-old black man.
During a 2014 traffic stop, Officer Braheme Days, who is black, fired the fatal shot that killed Reid. Officer Roger Worley, who is white, also fired at Jerame Reid but missed. The officers shot Reid after he refused to obey their orders to stay in his vehicle during a traffic stop. The family subsequently filed the suit, alleging deadly force and civil rights violations. Dashcam video recorded the shooting and although the dashcam shows the officers firing at Reid, a Cumberland County grand jury failed to indict either of the officers.
The Times Union reports details provided by David Porter of the Associated Press who says that under the settlement, Jerame Reid’s widow receives $200,000, including legal fees. His infant son receives periodic payments upon reaching the age of 18. Those payments total $1.5 million. Both Jerome Reid’s mother and the mother of his son receive $70,000 each.
This settlement is not the only settlement recently announced concerning the Bridgeton, N.J. Police Department and Jerame Reid. In 2015, New Jersey Online announced a $340,000 settlement reached as the result of a suit filed in U.S. District Court in January 2011 by Reid, alleging assault by police and corrections officers when Reid was in the Cumberland County Jail.
Reid claimed that officers kicked and punched him and threw a bucket of cold water on him, even as he lay curled up on the floor of his cell. As a result, he suffered broken ribs, nerve damage in his face and other injuries. Cumberland County awarded the $340,000 settlement to Jerame Reid’s widow.
The Jerame Reid lawsuits resulting in the injuries and death of Jerame Reid are just two in a series of lawsuits against Bridgeton, NJ police officers, including a lawsuit filed by 45 year-old Marella Lawson who settled her case for $690,000 in April 2016, says the Daily Journal. Bridgeton officers assaulted her during two separate arrests, both involving the same police officer. As in the case of the Jerame Reid lawsuits, Bridgeton officers continue to deny all liability.
