Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old Black man, was shot in his grandmother's backyard in Sacramento, CA on March 18, 2018. The police were responding to a 911 call about someone breaking a car window, and Clark matched the description. They pursued him into a backyard, which was later revealed to be his grandmother's backyard. The officers claimed they thought that Clark was holding an object that looked like a gun toward them, and then they fired 20 shots, 8 of which hit Clark. Upon examination, Clark did not have anything besides a cell phone in his possession. After body camera footage was released, there were many large protests in Sacramento. The Sacramento Police Department conducted a use-of-force investigation, in which they decided that the officers had probable cause. This led to district attorney to decline pressing charges against the officer in March 2019. Later that year, the FBI and US Attorney also announced that they had insufficient evidence to pursue civil rights charges.
Stephon Clark's brother leading a protest against police violence
There was no actual litigation, but the city of Sacramento paid $2.4 million to the children of Clark to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit.
