$1.5 million settlement approved in shooting death of Gulf War veteran
A $1.5 million settlement between the Metropolitan Police Department and the widow of Stanley Gibson was approved Monday by the department’s Fiscal Affairs Committee.
Both Rondha Gibson and police officials signed the settlement, which department lawyers called “a good economic decision.” Rondha Gibson did not respond to calls seeking comment Monday.
Gibson, 43, was killed Dec. 12, 2011, during a standoff at the Alondra apartments, 2451 N. Rainbow Blvd., near Smoke Ranch Road, which began with a mistaken attempted burglary report.
His family said Gibson suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and his mental condition had deteriorated in the weeks before the shooting.
Lost, the Gulf War veteran drove into the apartment complex near his home and was circling the parking lot when officers arrived and boxed his Cadillac between two patrol cars. Gibson refused to get out of car.
Officer Jesus Arevalo shot and killed Gibson after a failed plan to remove Gibson from the car by using a beanbag shotgun and pepper spray. Arevalo fired several rounds from his AR-15 after hearing the shotgun blast, killing Gibson.
Arevalo was fired earlier this month, although he could still appeal the decision to an outside arbitrator.
The payout to Gibson’s wife follows a recent trend of big-money settlements by Las Vegas police.
The department paid out a combined $2.5 million between two lawsuits in 2011. One was for a man who was imprisoned for several years after the department’s laboratory swapped his DNA with that of another man. The other case was for the family of a mentally ill man who died after an officer placed him in a form of a choke hold.
The department also paid $1.7 million in 2012 to the family of Trevon Cole, an unarmed man killed in a botched drug raid in 2010.
Gibson’s mother filed a separate lawsuit against the department. That lawsuit is pending.
Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283. Follow @blasky on Twitter.
