Randall Kerrick, North Carolina Officer Who Shot Unarmed Black Man, Gets Nearly $180K In Settlement

A North Carolina police officer, who was charged with voluntary manslaughter of a black man in 2013, will get nearly $180,000 after the case ended with a deadlocked jury, authorities said Thursday. Randall Kerrick also resigned from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department effective Oct. 2.

The city will pay about $113,000 to Kerrick and an additional $16,000 will be his Social Security and retirement, the Charlotte Observer reported, citing a Charlotte-Mecklenburg statement. Under the settlement, Kerrick will not be allowed to file future claims against the city and will be bound not to reveal non-public information about the city. The city has not paid anything for Kerrick’s criminal defense. Kerrick’s attorney will receive $50,630.80 from the overall amount.

Kerrick was charged with voluntary manslaughter for the death of Jonathan Ferrell, a black unarmed former college football player, a day after the fatal shooting in Sept. 2013. On Sept. 14, 2013, after being involved in a severe car accident, Ferrell knocked on the door of a house near the crash site. The female owner of the house called police.

As several officers responded, a dashcam video showed Ferrell approaching the police officers before attempting to run when he saw a Taser pointed at him, according to prosecutors. Kerrick shot at Ferrell 12 times, hitting him 10 times.

Kerrick said that he shot Ferrell because he kept charging at him and he did not think his gun was working. However, prosecutors said that Kerrick should have used nonlethal force to suppress the 24-year-old. Ferrell’s family was awarded $2.25 million in a settlement in May.

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper announced that Kerrick would not be retried despite calls for prosecutors to retry the case.