Iris Eytan Quoted in Coleman Case and Why it Took Boulder Eight Years to Pay

Iris Eytan Quoted in Coleman Case and Why it Took Boulder Eight Years to Pay

Westword
By Michael Roberts

Why Boulder Took Eight Years to Pay Police Shooting Victim $1.3 Million

Boulder City Council has agreed to pay $1.3 million to Coleman Stewart over an incident during which he was shot by Boulder Police Department officers in 2014.

This payout isn’t isolated; it’s at least the fifth related to the BPD that the City of Boulder has settled during the past two years, with the total cost exceeding $4 million. But the incident, which escalated from a beef over less than $5 in cab fare to a SWAT team standoff involving an armored police vehicle, took the longest to reach a resolution — more than eight years — in part because prosecutors spent so much time pursuing criminal charges against Stewart, who was initially convicted before being essentially exonerated on appeal. And even after his case was dismissed, Boulder authorities continued to portray the officers as victims rather than victimizers.

As part of their deal, the City of Boulder and attorney Elizabeth Wang of the Boulder-based law firm Loevy & Loevy, which filed a civil lawsuit on Stewart’s behalf, issued a joint statement about the matter’s end. “The City of Boulder and Coleman Stewart have entered into a settlement agreement that resolves the issues presented in the lawsuit Mr. Stewart filed in federal court against the City and several current and former Boulder police officers, Stewart v. City of Boulder,” it states. “The $1.3 million settlement is a compromise of disputed claims, and each party hopes the other will benefit from the closure the settlement will provide.”

Photo credit: Denver7 via YouTube

Read/View the Full Article Here.