Alleged broken taillight caused a Georgia state trooper to fatally shoot an unarmed black man, Julian Lewis, leading to a record-setting $4.8-million settlement

Julian Lewis

Georgia has reached a record settlement in the state-trooper shooting death of an unarmed black man. The Atlanta law firm of  Hall and Lampros represented the family of Julian Lewis in the $4.8-million pre-lawsuit settlement. From a report at the Macon Telegraph:

Julian Lewis, a 60-year-old unarmed Black man, was driving his Nissan Sentra to a store after work to pick up an orange soda for his wife when he was shot and killed by a Georgia state trooper in 2020, according to state investigators.

Now his widow will get $4.8 million.

The state of Georgia agreed to pay Betty Lewis before she took the case to court, making it the largest pre-litigation settlement in state history dating back to 1990, the law firm of Hall & Lampros LLP said in a news release. Betty Lewis’s lawyers said they were readying to sue the former trooper, the Georgia State Highway Patrol and related officials before reaching a settlement through mediation.

“Our hearts grieve for Betty Lewis, who lost her Golden Years with her husband because of unwarranted and unnecessary deadly force during what should have been a routine traffic stop,” attorney Andrew Lampros said in the release. Lampros added the “events of that August night should never have happened,” calling it “unconscionable".

What led to the shooting death of Julian Lewis? An alleged broken taillight. From the Telegraph: 

According to the law firm, Julian Lewis was driving to the store on Aug. 7, 2020, when a state trooper activated his blue lights to pull him over for a broken taillight. Lawyers said investigators later determined neither of his taillights were “in a condition to justify probable cause for a stop.” The Georgia Bureau of Investigation identified the trooper as Jacob Gordon Thompson, who is white and was 27 years old at the time.

Investigators said Thompson tried to pull Lewis over on Stoney Pond Road in Screven County, which stretches less than two miles through farmland and woods in rural southeast Georgia. Screven County sits on the border with South Carolina, about 78 miles northwest of Hilton Head. According to an initial news release dated one day after the shooting, Thompson intended to stop Lewis for a traffic offense but “the car refused to stop and led the trooper on a brief chase down several county roads.”

Lawyers for Betty Lewis said it is believed her husband was trying to “drive toward a more familiar area where he knew other people would be present” and that he turned on both his turn signals as a sign of acknowledgment to the trooper. Thompson then used what’s known as a Precision Intervention Technique, or PIT maneuver, to stop the Nissan, investigators said. The trooper hit Lewis with enough force to spin his car in the opposite direction before coming to rest in a ditch, according to the widow’s attorneys and the GBI.

“Less than two seconds passed from the time the trooper opened the door to his vehicle and fired a shot that killed 60-year-old Lewis instantly,” attorneys said, citing testimony from state investigators. Thompson fired one round. Lewis was pronounced dead on the scene, state investigators said.