The family of a Morehouse graduate who was stopped by sheriff’s deputies for jaywalking and died after being hit with a Taser seven times has settled a wrongful death lawsuit for $4.5 million.
“They should learn that the Taser is not a toy,” Adante Pointer said.
Pointer is the attorney who represented the family of Chinedu Okobi in their lawsuit against San Mateo County, which is 20 miles south of San Francisco. The lawsuit accused San Mateo County deputies of racial profiling and using excessive force against Okobi, 36, the day he died.
“The police did not have reasonable suspicion or probable cause to believe he committed a crime,” Okobi family attorney John Burris said to The Daily Journal.
On Oct. 3, 2018, at 1 p.m., Okobi encountered deputy Joshua Wang who was on patrol. As Wang was driving, he saw Okobi briskly walking across the street, but he was not in a designated crosswalk. Wang drove toward Okobi and said, “Hey, hold up a minute. Hold up a minute. Hey, stop.”
Okobi did not respond to Wang, according to court documents, and crossed the street. Wang at that point radioed for “all available police” to come as quickly as possible.
Wang confronted Okobi again about two minutes later while Okobi was walking in the median. Wang can be heard telling Okobi, “Let’s go over here and talk on the sidewalk.” After Okobi did not respond to the deputy again, Wang waited in his squad car until other deputies arrived.
Dashcam and body-camera video shows Okobi, who stood about six feet tall and weighed 333 pounds, walking down the sidewalk alongside the busy street he crossed minutes earlier. About five minutes after Okobi’s first encounter with Wang, another deputy approached Okobi on foot and attempted to grab his arm to apprehend him. By this time, Okobi is seen holding both of his hands in the air asking, “What I do?!”
As Okobi asked deputies what was going on, he continued walking forward just as other…
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