City agrees to $625,000 settlement in taser death

The City of Charlotte has reached an out-of-court settlement with the family of Darryl Turner, the 17-year-old who died last year after a police officer shot him with a taser. WFAE's Lisa Miller has more: The City of Charlotte says it settled with Turner's family for $625,000. Ken Harris, the attorney who represents the family, says they're satisfied with the amount and how the city responded to their requests for information. "They were very willing to get together and discuss the possibility of resolving the case in light of the substantial complexity of the case and the fact that this would've been a federal lawsuit, a very grinding process for both the city and the family," says Harris. In March 2008, CMPD Officer Jerry Dawson used a taser to subdue Darryl Turner at a Food Lion in northeast Charlotte. He shocked him for 37 seconds and then discharged the taser a second time for five seconds. A police review board ruled that Dawson followed the department's policies when he used the taser, but he shouldn't have applied it for so long. The officer was suspended for five days. In a statement, the City says it denies all wrongdoing. Harris says the settlement ends the family's case with the city and CMPD, but he expects to file a related lawsuit. This time against another party he won't name.