Phoenix to Pay $1.5 Million to Family of Rumain Brisbon, Unarmed Black Man Shot by Police
Rumain Brisbon had just pulled into the parking lot of his North Phoenix apartment complex on a December day in 2014 and gotten out of the car when a police officer confronted him.
What happened next is disputed. The Phoenix officer, Mark Rine, has claimed that Brisbon reached for his waistband after being told to put his hands up, then started to run away. A struggle ensued, and Rine, who said that he thought that he felt a gun in Brisbon's pocket, fired two shots in self-defense.
Two witnesses — Brisbon's friend Brandon Dickerson, who'd been sitting in his car, and Dana Klinger, his girlfriend — tell a different story, which was reflected in a lawsuit filed in May 2015. It argued that Rine had no probable cause to detain or arrest Brisbon, who had gone out to pick up food at McDonald's for his girlfriend and their 18-month-old daughter.
Brisbon had "exercised his constitutional right to keep walking without engaging in conversation with defendant Rine," the lawsuit noted. In response, Rine "initiated a confrontation with Rumain Brisbon by charging after him and forcing him to retreat to the doorway."
Read more: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/phoenix-approves-15-million-settlement-for-family-of-rumain-brisbon-unarmed-black-man-shot-by-police-9455485
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