A federal magistrate judge has ordered the city of Graham and two other defendants to pay $725,000 – with $471,061 going to the only child of a former Graham man who was fatally shot by a Graham police officer in early 2020 – to settle a wrongful death suit.
The suit was filed more than two years ago in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina against the city, as well as then-Graham police chief Jeff Prichard and Graham police officer Marcus Pollock, for allegedly violating the constitutional rights of Jaquyn O’Neill Light by “shooting him with a firearm at close range [knowing Light] was unarmed [and] was committing no crime.”
Light, then 20, black male, died from blood loss caused by a single gunshot wound to the left side of his abdomen and navel, an autopsy by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner later revealed. He was survived by his daughter, Emoni Light, born in 2020 and Shannon Batten, who is described in court filings as the grandmother and primary caregiver of Emoni Light.
The defendants unsuccessfully countered that Pollock had been entitled to use lethal force and that, as government officials, were immune to any liability for monetary damages.
U.S. magistrate judge Joi Elizabeth Peake filed an order in federal court last week outlining that the parties had agreed in mediation to settle the lawsuit for a total sum of $725,000 in cash and future periodic payments.
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After a third of the total settlement is paid for the plaintiff’s attorneys’ fees and court costs, the net settlement to Light’s estate will be $471,067.71, according to Peake’s order.
Peake’s order specifies that payments are to be made through the purchase of an annuity, with a total payout value of more than $1.6 million, backed by the Prudential Insurance Company of America.
The payments to Light’s survivors will be made as follows:
- To Shannon Batten for the care of the minor child through Emoni Light’s 18thbirthday: $500 per month, guaranteed for 13 years and six months, with the first payment occurring on September 15, 2024 and ending on February 15, 2038.
- To Emoni Light, after she reaches age 18: $35,000 annually, guaranteed for four years, beginning March 12, 2038; a $150,000 guaranteed lump sum due March 12, 2047; a $300,000 guaranteed lump sum due March 12, 2050; and a $922,434.43 guaranteed lump sum payable on March 12, 2055.
Pollock had been dispatched to a home along East Elm Street in Graham shortly before midnight on January 28, 2020 to serve four outstanding warrants on Light, who had been wanted on two outstanding misdemeanor charges of communicating threats and simple assault, as well as two probation violations for felony breaking and entering and felony larceny.
Officer Pollock, who is also black, later told investigators with the State Bureau of Investigation that his .45-caliber sidearm had accidentally discharged after Light collided with him in the yard outside of a home at 716 East Elm Street in Graham, based on details of the case that Alamance County district attorney Sean Boone outlined during a lengthy presentation of the evidence and subsequent press conference in July 2020.
The State Bureau of Investigation concluded the shooting had been accidental. An independent investigation conducted for the D.A.’s office also determined there was no probable cause to suggest Pollock had engaged in any conduct that would support a criminal charge, which could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt at a trial, based on a review of the evidence outlined in a 10-page analysis, including crime scene photos and a diagram showing the entry point and trajectory of the bullet that killed Light, which the D.A. presented at the press conference.
The subsequent lawsuit filed by Light’s estate contended that the city of Graham “engaged as a matter of policy…in inadequate screening, training, and supervision of its police officers with deliberate indifference to the rights of the city’s inhabitants with whom police come into contact including Jaquyn O’Neill Light, and deliberate indifference [to the need for better training and supervision for police officers].”
Christian Ferlan of the Hall Booth Smith law firm in Charlotte represented the Graham defendants and agreed on behalf of the city to the total settlement of $725,000.
Attorney Edwin W. Bowden of the Bowden Gardner & Hill law firm in Winston-Salem represented Light’s estate for the wrongful death suit; attorney J. Keith Stroud of Forsyth County is the guardian ad litem for Emoni Light.
Graham attorney James (“Hunt”) Johnson served as the administrator for Light’s estate.
Federal court filings in the case give no indication that the Graham defendants admitted any wrongdoing in agreeing to settle the dispute through the mediation process.
Peake dismissed the case with prejudice, which bars any future claims related to the same incident from being filed.
