Tacoma man’s death became rallying cry against police brutality. His family to get $3.1M

TACOMA — The family and estate of Bennie Branch, a 24-year-old man shot and killed by a Tacoma police officer in 2019, will receive $3.1 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit, the City of Tacoma announced Tuesday.

Branch was one of several Black men remembered at local protests against police shootings and racial injustice during the summer of 2020 following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer. Branch was killed Sept. 8, 2019, during a struggle at a traffic stop on Portland Avenue. The officer who shot him was legally cleared of wrongdoing.

In a written statement, the city said Branch’s family suffered a heartbreaking loss.

“This family’s loss has been felt deeply across our entire community — specifically amongst Tacoma’s African American community,” the statement reads. “While the settlement is not an admission of legal liability, the City has agreed with the family’s representatives that this settlement will allow the parties to avoid the risk and expense of trial and is an appropriate resolution of this matter at this time.”

After Branch’s death, thousands of people signed a Change.org petition demanding that the officer who killed him be charged. His family sued the city and filed an excessive force claim in U.S. District Court on behalf of Branch and his mother, Brendelin Branch. She was present when officer Ryan Bradley shot her son.

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department investigated the death. According to previous reporting from The News Tribune, the department found Branch was high on methamphetamine, had a warrant out for a probation violation and was carrying an Airsoft gun. Prosecutors later said it closely resembled a semiautomatic handgun.

In 2020, Pierce County Prosecutor Mary Robnett sent a letter to then-Tacoma police Chief Don Ramsdell stating Bradley acted lawfully and justifiably when he shot at Branch. Robnett wrote that Branch was “by all appearances an armed carjacker attempting to evade capture who posed an immediate and grave danger to the officers.”

The Sheriff’s Department produced 567 pages of police reports, computer-aided dispatch logs and officer and witness statements in its investigation. Other than Branch’s mother, no one aside from police witnessed the actual shooting. At the times, Tacoma police did not use body cameras or have dashboard cameras in their patrol cars.

In its statement announcing the settlement, the city wrote that it supports Tacoma Police Department’s efforts to build the community’s trust in the department and its officers through an updated policies on use of force, body-worn cameras and in-car video.