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(AP) — California will pay a $24 million civil rights settlement to the family of a man who died in police custody after screaming “I can’t breathe” as multiple officers restrained him while trying to take a blood sample, lawyers said Tuesday.
Seven California Highway Patrol officers and a nurse were charged with involuntary manslaughter earlier this year in connection with the 2020 death of Edward Bronstein.
Annee Della Donna, an attorney for Bronstein’s parents and children, said it’s the largest civil rights settlement of its kind by the state of California, and the second largest nationally since the city of Minneapolis paid $27 million in the George Floyd case.
Della Donna scheduled a news conference in Los Angeles later Wednesday to provide additional details.
Bronstein, 38, was taken into custody following a traffic stop on suspicion of driving under the influence on March 31, 2020. He died at a highway patrol station in Altadena, north of downtown Los Angeles, less than two months before Floyd was killed by police in Minnesota as he, too, repeatedly told officers, “I can’t breathe.”
The Los Angeles County coroner said Bronstein’s death was caused by “acute methamphetamine intoxication during restraint by law enforcement.”
When announcing the criminal charges in March, LA County District Attorney George Gascón said the highway patrol officers failed Bronstein, “and their failure was criminally negligent, causing his death.”
A nearly 18-minute video showing the officers’ treatment of Bronstein was released last year following a judge’s order in the family’s federal lawsuit alleging excessive force and a violation of civil rights.