JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The City of Jacksonville has agreed to pay $200,000 to the family of a college student killed by a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Officer during a 2019 traffic stop, local media outlet The Tributary reported on Wednesday.
The family of Jamee Johnson sued the city, the officer who fired the fatal shots, Josue Garria, and former Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams in 2021. The settlement was reached in August, the Tributary reported, and the case was dismissed on Monday from federal court.
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In 2020, the State Attorney’s Office reviewed the shooting death of Johnson and ruled the it was justified.
As part of the settlement, the city did not admit Garriga did anything wrong and said it was settling because of the “uncertainty” of a trial, the Tributary reported.
The State Attorney’s Office released its investigation report in 2020, as well as body camera footage of the shooting.
Johnson, a Florida A&M University student, was fatally shot by Garriga during a traffic stop on Dec. 14 at Buckman and 21st streets.
According to the investigation report, Johnson was pulled over for driving without a seat belt.
Toward the beginning of the body camera video, Garriga asks, “Why are you so nervous?”
Johnson responds, “I’m not. I’m just scared of police. I haven’t been pulled over in Jacksonville the whole time I’ve lived here.”
After he is pulled over, the video shows Johnson explaining he has a gun inside of a jacket in the car.
At one point in the video, Garriga has Johnson get out of the car and asks: “Why do you smell like the way you smell?” Johnson replies that he was smoking hemp. The officer then requests to search the car, to which Johnson says: “There’s nothing -- no reason for you to search my vehicle, sir. I have my legal firearm, and that’s about it.”
The officer then tells Johnson he will escort him to the patrol car while he gets the receipt for the firearm. Soon after, for some unknown reason, Johnson can be seen pulling away and diving headfirst into his car as Garriga dives into the car behind him and the officer’s body camera gets knocked off its mount, falling to the ground.
“I was in immediate fear he was attempting to retrieve his firearm,” Garriga said in a statement.
Another officer’s body camera captured what happened next. The footage shows Johnson’s right foot pressing down on the accelerator and the car crashing through a fence into a nearby yard.
In his statement, Garriga explained what happened after the car crashed.
“The suspect began lifting the firearm in the direction of my face. In fear of being shot in the face or upper torso, I attempted to conceal my face behind the suspect’s head to prevent from being shot,” he said.
Garriga detailed in the statement what happened as the tussle continued.
“I was able to grab the right wrist of the driver, which the handgun was still in, and was able to push myself out of the vehicle. As I exited, I observed the suspect moving his body in my direction and I believe he still had the gun in his possession. Fearing for my life I fired my issued firearm at the suspect until he was no longer a threat,” he said.
Johnson suffered four gunshot wounds. In the video, Johnson can be seen lying on the ground.
“I can’t breathe. I’m dying, sir. Please help me,” he can be heard saying.
Johnson died at a hospital while in surgery. The investigation report stated the two gunshot wounds to the torso caused Johnson’s death.
Johnson’s father said in 2021 that he wanted justice.
“He did some bad stuff he shouldn’t have gotten back in the car, he should’ve tried to get away but he said at the beginning that he was scared of the police and he did stop in the end and give up,” Harvey Johnson said.
Current Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters sent the following statement to News4JAX about the Johnsons’ settlement:
“On December 19, 2019, Jamee Johnson was killed while attempting to take the life of a member of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. That incident was fully investigated by the State Attorney’s Office for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida. The State Attorney Office’s independently determined that our officer lawfully and justifiably used deadly force in defense of his own life.
A civil lawsuit was later filed, and I was disappointed to learn that the agency’s attorneys from Office of General Council for the City of Jacksonville entered into a settlement agreement without my knowledge or consultation. City Risk Management also made the determination on settlement value, once again without my knowledge or consent.
If properly consulted by representative counsel, my request would have been to take the case before a jury and not settle. JSO maintains that our officer’s actions constituted legally permissible use of force in defense of his own life. While JSO is bound by this settlement agreement, I am deeply disappointed by the outcome of this litigation and JSO’s lack of proper notification by our attorneys.”
