The Baton Rouge Metro Council last week rejected a proposed $125,000 settlement in a lawsuit filed by the family of Kevin Bajoie, who died seven years ago after police arrested him using stun guns.
Bajoie, 32, was shot twice with Taser guns in 2015 by officers who said they were acting in self-defense after responding to a neighborhood altercation, Baton Rouge police reported, and Bajoie later died at a hospital. But a lawsuit filed on behalf of Bajoie’s parents, Lawrence and Mabel Bajoie, said there was no justification for the use of stun guns.
The parents’ attorney, Jill Craft, said they negotiated with three attorneys from the Parish Attorney’s Office over the course of a day, after which Craft’s clients agreed to a settlement of $125,000 plus attorney fees of $1,177.12. The Parish Attorney’s Office agreed to recommend approval of the settlement to the Metro Council, Craft said.
“This debacle significantly erodes confidence in anyone’s ability to negotiate with the council,” she told the Louisiana Record in an email. “The Parish Attorney’s Office selected a mediator and spent taxpayer money for all parties to attend a mediation and work out a settlement. … The attorney specifically assured my clients and I there would be no problems with the settlement and did not foresee any issues.”
The terms of the settlement were presented to the council in late June, and no objections to it were offered, according to Craft.
The city-parish has resisted allegations in the civil litigation that police lacked a justification for the use of force against Bajoie. An East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office report attributed his death to drug intoxication.
“To say this was devastating to my clients is a tremendous understatement,” Craft said.
The legal dispute has been ready for trial, she said. A motion for summary judgment filed by the Parish Attorney’s Office was denied by the 19th Judicial District Court, which also ruled that two of the defendants were precluded from testifying.
“As this litigation now proceeds forward, not only will the taxpayers continue to incur significant expenses, but the risk of a much higher judgment, including for my clients’ attorney fees and costs, grows exponentially,” Craft said.