The City of Thornton has agreed to pay $1.25 million to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit filed on behalf of Jaime Ceballos, who was in the midst of a mental health crisis when a police officer shot and killed him only about a minute after arriving on the scene. Ceballos was holding a baseball bat at the time of the 2013 incident, which took place in the driveway of his home, but he was too far from law enforcers or other witnesses to be an actual threat to anyone.

…”He was in his own driveway, talking to himself, and his wife and his friends were trying to help him,” Holland Edwards continues. “He had a baseball bat in his hand, but that was all. But when the police got there, they refused to take any information from his friends or engage in any de-escalation. They marched down the street, one holding a taser, the other one holding a gun.”

…The lawsuit confirms that Quianna Ceballos told the 911 operator that her husband had a knife, and a kitchen blade was indeed found on his body after the shooting. However, he never pulled it out or brandished it in the presence of police.

…Husk and the other officers advanced on Ceballos with weapons on display, repeatedly yelling, “Drop the bat or we’ll shoot.”

To that, Ceballos said, “Fuck you, shoot me then!” — and Husk did, squeezing off six rounds in rapid succession. The autopsy report revealed that Ceballos died from two bullets in the chest that perforated his lungs and vertebrae.

By Holland Edwards’s estimate, the elapsed time between the cops’ arrival and the shooting was “less than a minute.”

…Husk and Eric Ward, another officer on hand when Ceballos died, were awarded “medals of valor” for how they dealt with the matter. Likewise, Matsch pointed out, Nelson testified that “he would have the officers handle the situation the same way if faced with it again.”

…Thornton taxpayers must pony up the aforementioned seven-figure sum — and that doesn’t count legal fees accrued over a four-year period that likely bring the total outlay close to $2 million.

Jaime Ceballos Killing by Police Costs Thornton $1.25 Million | Westword

By employing, defending, and protecting these officers (not to mention AWARDING THEM A MEDAL FOR COLD-BLOODED MURDER) the municipality was cuplable in this murder. If tax-payers don’t like having to pay for the costs of these officers action, then they must insist the law enforcement officers they hire and employ do better.

Until communities insist the police police its own, they will rightly be left holding the bill.

Consequences are necessary.