MESA, AZ — An $8 million settlement between the City of Mesa and Laney Sweet, the widow of Daniel Shaver, has been reached and funded.
Attorney Karen Moskowitz with Richards & Moskowitz made the announcement of the settlement funding Monday.
The settlement was reached in November 2022, years after Shaver was shot and killed by now-former Mesa Police Officer Phillip Brailsford in 2016.
"The $8 million settlement being paid to resolve the claims against the City of Mesa is among the largest publicly reported for any killing of a citizen by an Arizona police officer," the law firm said. "In fact, it is the highest settlement for a deceased victim in Arizona and more than twice the amount of Mesa’s highest settlement to date."
Videos in the player above shows prior ABC15 coverage of this incident.
The deadly incident occurred when officers were originally called to a hotel to investigate reports that someone was pointing a gun out of a window.
Brailsford was holding Shaver at gunpoint while ordering him to crawl forward on a hotel hallway floor before the deadly shooting happened.
Brailsford was tried for murder and was found not guilty. He was originally fired from the force but was later allowed to retire on an accidental disability pension.
During a legal trial, Brailsford said he fired his rifle when Shaver reached toward his back as if he was pulling out a handgun. Brailsford said he was terrified for the safety of officers, and a woman, who were in the hallway.
Police later determined Shaver was not armed when he was killed.
**GRAPHIC CONTENT**: The full body camera showing the moments leading up to Shaver being shot and killed can be viewed here.
The detective investigating the shooting agreed during the trial that Shaver's movement was similar to reaching for a pistol, but said it also looked as though Shaver was pulling up his loose-fitting basketball shorts that had fallen down as he crawled. The investigator noted he didn't see anything that would have prevented officers from simply handcuffing Shaver as he was on the floor.
A statement was released by the legal team of Sweet and Shaver's children after the settlement was reached:
"Daniel Shaver lived, and will be remembered, as a wonderful, compassionate husband and father. His spirit endowed and embedded light and love to those around him throughout his much-too-short life. While on this earth he provided security, prosperity and stability to his wife and children. He brought a pragmatic, caring perspective to every problem he approached, and had a good-willed nature and charm.
His beloved widow and children miss him every hour of every day. They will never forget Daniel’s loving legacy, nor take for granted the cherished memories of the beautiful time they spent with him. No words can do justice to a life unjustly cut short, and no amount of money can undo the transgressions that cruelly removed Daniel from his family’s lives forever.
While this settlement helps Daniel’s widow and children with the financial stability to move forward, it does not erase the cruelty of his killing, or the malicious campaign by the Mesa Police Department—orchestrated and implemented by their attorneys for over 6 years of needless, malevolent scorched-earth litigation. This settlement does nothing to cure the blatant lack of accountability by all involved since the night of Daniel’s death, which stands as an irredeemable blight on the criminal justice system.
The failure and injustice of Daniel Shaver’s killing and the resulting sham criminal trial, which made a mockery of the notion of Justice predictably ended in no conviction and to this day casts an ugly shadow over this settlement. As this chapter closes, we call upon the Department of Justice to swiftly proceed with its ongoing investigation and announce the federal criminal charges of officers involved, and bring justice where the state of Arizona has failed."
As part of the settlement, the law firm said "the City of Mesa has arranged for placement of a tree and bench honoring Daniel Shaver’s memory in Mesa’s Countryside Park."
