City to pay $950k

The Chico City Council has decided to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Mindy Losee. Her daughter, Breanne Sharpe, was shot and killed by police officers in September 2013.

Sharpe (pictured), a 19-year-old Magalia resident, had led police on a high-speed chase in a stolen car prior to being shot at 19 times, with two bullets hitting her.

The courts had originally sided with the city, but Losee won an appeal earlier this year, in which a panel of judges said, “The right not to be shot in a car that poses no immediate danger to police officers or others is clearly established.”

Mayor Randall Stone said the council made the decision to settle at its last meeting in December. The city will pay Losee $950,000. “We settled on the basis that trial outcomes are uncertain,” he told the CN&R. “And so sometimes it’s best to settle.”