Funeral program for Shem Walker, who was 49 when he was killed.

 

The family of a man who was fatally shot by an undercover member of the NYPD has settled with the city for $2 million.

Shem Walker, 49, was gunned down after he tried to eject a detective from loitering on the stoop of his elderly grandmother’s apartment building in Fort Greene. Walker was apparently unaware that the detective was observing a buy-and-bust operation nearby.

From New York Daily News: 

Identified in court papers only as Undercover C-94, the detective fired three times on July 11, 2009, after Walker punched him in the face and both men tumbled to the pavement. No grand jury was convened by former Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes or his recent successor Kenneth Thompson.

The statute of limitations for charging the detective with manslaughter passed on Friday.

Sandra Walker, the victim’s widow, declined to comment on the settlement reached last week in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

“The family respects the decision of this district attorney but does hope the detective will be subject to a department hearing or discipline for shooting an unarmed man,” Walker’s lawyers Scott Rynecki and Sanford Rubenstein said in a statement.

Read more at New York Daily News

A spokesman for Hynes claimed the shooting remained under “very active” investigation two years ago. But prosecutors said that there was not enough evidence to charge him with a crime, according to court papers.

At the time of the shooting, the NYPD suggested Walker was trying to grab the detective’s gun.

But two Housing cops in a van who witnessed the fight said they just saw Walker throw one punch. They lost sight of the men before hearing the gunshots.

“This incident was a tragedy for the Walker family,” a city Law Department spokeswoman told the Daily News. “We hope this settlement provides some measure of closure.”

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