The City of Peoria will pay out $415,000 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of the late Eddie Russell, Jr.
Russell was shot and killed by Peoria police at his mother's home following a two-hour standoff on Sept. 20, 2017. Russell had robbed a Peoria bank at gunpoint earlier in the day.
Police say when Russell exited the house, he raised a gun in his hand toward the officers, leading them to open fire. Russell was shot at least 17 times.
The Illinois State Police ruled the officer-involved shooting justified, and then-State's Attorney Jerry Brady did not file charges against the officers involved.
Russell's mother, Anita Johnson, sued the city for her son's death in federal court in 2018. She said police were aware her son suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and the law enforcement on the scene didn't follow proper mental health awareness and crisis intervention techniques to de-escalate the situation.
At Tuesday's Peoria City Council meeting, council members voted 9-1 to approve a settlement with Johnson's family to end the litigation.
"The City of Peoria continues to stand by the actions of its officers that day. Nonetheless, given the high costs of further litigation and in the best interests of all involved parties, including Mr. Russell's surviving family members, the city believes that a reasonable settlement was more preferable than the continuation of adversarial litigation," the city said in a statement released after the vote.
Only 2nd District council member Chuck Grayeb voted against the settlement. "I believe our Peoria police officers regrettably reacted as they had to under the circumstances," he said.
Riverboat vote deferred
In another matter, the council put off, for two weks, a decision on whether or not to put in an offer on the Spirit of Peoria riverboat.
City Manager Patrick Urich and corporation counsel Chrissie Kapustka advised the council to waive its right to purchase the boat from current owner Alex Grieves for $1 million, citing the lack of an appraisal, seaworthiness survey, and other financial information on the buyer. Per the contract, the council can match a private offer for the boat within 90 days after the bid is made.
Grieves is seeking to sell the riverboat to Yacht Starship Dining Cruises of Tampa, Fla. The city waiving the right of first refusal would allow Grieves to proceed with the sale to a private buyer.
Kapustka said she hasn't asked Grieves directly since he declared an impasse in talks. She said she didn't directly request an appraisal or sea trial, however.
The purchase agreement made between Grieves' company and Yacht Starship didn't include those items, meaning that it would be up to Grieves to allow the city to proceed with the due diligence items. But even with an appraisal, the city would still be obligated to match Yacht Starship's $1 million offer, Kapustka said.
At-large councilman Zach Oyler criticized how the city is handling the process. He said the city council should be talking about how to keep the boat here.
"It is part of our history, our heritage, it has been on the riverfront for decades. It sets the landscape for this community, and we are having the absolute wrong conversation on what this means to us and what our plans are," Oyler said.
At-large Peoria city council membern John Kelly agreed the city was asking irrelevant questions about the financials of the buyer. He said the real question is whether or not the boat is worth $1 million.
