Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters isn’t happy about the city’s decision to pay the family of a man killed by one of his officers in 2019, a $200,000 settlement.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A day after the city of Jacksonville announced a settlement in a civil case with the family of a man killed by a Jacksonville Sheriff’s officer, the sheriff is voicing his displeasure with the decision.
Sheriff T.K. Waters said the city didn’t consult with him when it decided to pay the family of Florida A&M student Jamee Johnson $200,000 for the Dec. 14, 2019 incident in which Jacksonville officer Josue Garriga shot Johnson to death.
“If properly consulted by representative counsel, my request would have been to take the case before a jury and not settle. JSO maintains that our officer’s actions constituted legally permissible use of force in defense of his own life,” Waters said in a statement Thursday. “While JSO is bound by this settlement agreement, I am deeply disappointed by the outcome of this litigation and JSO’s lack of proper notification by our attorneys.”
Johnson was pulled over for a seatbelt violation on Dec. 14, 2019. Bodycam footage showed Johnson told police he had a Glock 26 concealed in his jacket. After a struggle, Garriga is seen shooting him four times; video showed Johnson beg for his life. Garriga said Johnson was trying to grab his gun.
Waters said in the statement that Johnson “was killed while attempting to take the life of a member of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.”
In March 2021, Johnson’s family brought the lawsuit against the city, Mike Williams, who was sheriff at the time, and Garriga.
Though a team of experts led by State Attorney Melissa Nelson found Garriga’s actions were “justified,” Johnson’s family sought to challenge Garriga’s account of what happened that night. The family’s attorney said the bodycam video of the shooting did not show Johnson reaching for a weapon, as Garriga said he had. The lawsuit also contested that the bullet trajectory described in Johnson’s autopsy contradicted Garriga’s story.
As first reported by the Jacksonville Tributary, now that the city has settled in the case, there will be no trial to determine if Johnson’s family was right or wrong about what happened during the fatal traffic stop.
The settlement does not admit any wrongdoing by Garriga. Documents show the city decided to settle because of the “uncertainty” of a trial.
“I was disappointed to learn that the agency’s attorneys from Office of General Council for the City of Jacksonville entered into a settlement agreement without my knowledge or consultation,” Waters said in the statement. “City Risk Management also made the determination on settlement value, once again without my knowledge or consent.”
Johnson was 22-years-old at the time of his death.
