SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A federal judge has set a mediation session to settle the $14.5 million civil lawsuit filed against nine Spokane police officers by the mother and estate of Otto Zehm, a mentally disabled man who was beaten to death in 2006.
U.S. District Court Judge Lonny Suko has ordered the Zehm family attorneys, plus lawyers for Spokane and the city’s insurance carrier to meet on May 14 and 15.
Spokane Police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr., who was convicted late last year of using excessive force in the case and lying to investigators, was named in the lawsuit along with eight other members of the department.
Zehm, 36, was wrongly suspected of stealing money from a convenience store ATM when he was beaten by police in 2006.
