New York City agreed to pay $5.5 million to settle a federal lawsuit claiming that an undercover detective used excessive force to kill a man who was trying to break up a fight, reports the New York Times. The settlement comes as the city is dealing with five fatal police shootings in four weeks. It highlights the difficulties faced by families when they try to hold officers responsible for what they believe are unjustified deaths. In the latest case, detective James Connolly says he fired in self-defense when John Collado put him in a chokehold. A jury determined that the claim was false. The incident occurred in 2011 when Collado intervened in a battle between Connolly and a neighbor of Collado.
A police shooting last month in which plainclothes anti-crime officers accidentally killed their partner has focused attention on deadly encounters involving plainclothes and undercover officers. While they are a small fraction of the New York Police Department, plainclothes officers make up between one-quarter and one-third of officers involved in adversarial shootings. Plainclothes officers typically belong to units with the mission of catching people with guns and drugs, work that often pits them against violent suspects. Confusion can arise when officers in street clothes make an arrest or draw their weapons, which happened in Collado’s case. In the eyes of the police department, Connolly’s actions were justified. He was later promoted to sergeant.