Jury awards $11.5 million to family of a Black man fatally shot in 2017 by St. Paul police

A federal jury in Minneapolis on Tuesday awarded $11.5 million to the mother of Cordale Quinn Handy, a 29-year-old Black man who was shot to death by two St. Paul police officers as he lay in the street in 2017.

The award is the largest payout awarded in the city's history, said Kamal Baker, press secretary to St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter.

The jury found St. Paul officer Nathaniel Younce liable Monday in Handy's death. Officer Mikko Norman, who opened fire after Younce fired the first shots, was not found liable. Both officers are white, according to an attorney for the Handy family.

"I feel that accountability has prevailed," said Handy's mother, Kimberly Handy-Jones, as she sat in the plaza outside the U.S. Courthouse in Minneapolis. Handy-Jones, who lives in Waukegan, Ill., and attended the six-day trial, has called the shooting unjust ever since it happened.

The verdict and the award, she said, "doesn't bring my son back. But it will open up doors for mothers around the world who have suffered a loss through police brutality."

Handy-Jones said that some of the funds will go to a foundation she created in her son's name in 2018 that provides tombstones for families "who lost children through police brutality and community violence."

Carter defended the officers in a statement issued Tuesday night, suggesting that the shooting was justified.

"My heartfelt condolences go out to Mr. Handy's family and friends for their devastating loss," the mayor said in the statement. "​I am, at the same time, surprised by both the finding of liability and the magnitude of damages awarded by the jury in this case. Our officers responded to a chaotic and dangerous scene centered around a person who, by all accounts, was acting erratically and had already fired 16 shots before police arrived.​"

The 12-person jury included 11 white members and a person of color who wasn't Black, according to Chicago attorney Kevin O'Connor, who represented Handy-Jones along with attorneys Paul Bosman of Minneapolis and Nathaniel Cobbett, also of Chicago. U.S. District Judge David Doty presided at the trial.

Baker said city officials were reviewing the verdict "and considering all options, including post-trial motions and appeal." The city is self-insured, so any payments would come directly from the general fund.

The shooting

According to the allegations in the lawsuit, the officers were dispatched to Handy's apartment in the 700 block of E. 6th Street on March 15, 2017, after he called 911 claiming there was a person in his apartment trying to hurt or kill him.

O'Connor said Handy was experiencing hallucinations after taking "a bad dose of Ecstasy," a powerful drug. After the 911 call he fired 16 shots from a handgun into a sofa, believing someone was hiding in the couch, according to court papers. Handy then left his apartment building and started walking on Sinnen Street, yelling, "Hey 911, hey 911!"

When Younce and Norman arrived, they met two people — one of whom was Handy's girlfriend — who told them he was in a crisis and had a gun, but that it was broken and not loaded, according to O'Connor.

The officers found Handy in the middle of the block on Sinnen Street between E. 6th and 7th streets. After they ordered him to the ground and told him to drop the gun, they said Handy dropped to the ground but then pointed his gun at Norman. First Younce and then Norman opened fire, killing Handy.

The officers fired eight shots, four each. Seven of the bullets hit Handy, according to Handy-Jones' complaint. Her attorneys contended he had dropped the gun when he went down and was not pointing it at the police. St. Paul police were not yet using body cameras, so there is no video of the incident.

Pathologist Ronald Wright, a ballistics expert and former medical examiner testifying on behalf of Handy-Jones, said autopsy records showed abrasions on the palm of Handy's right hand, indicating he couldn't have been holding the gun when he was on the ground, according to O'Connor.

Wright also said the position of a bullet hole that went through the underside of his right arm was evidence he had his arm in the air when he was shot.

"He was compliant with the police," said O'Connor. In the end, he added, it was determined that the gun was inoperable.

Said Handy-Jones: "I knew they [the police] were lying about the gun."

The officers were initially absolved of Handy's death. However, Bonney Bowman, a public information officer with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, said the state Bureau of Criminal Affairs (BCA) will take another look at the evidence in the case.

"We will present any new evidence or discrepancies found between the federal civil rights lawsuit and the 2017 criminal case to the Ramsey County Attorney for review under Minnesota criminal statutes," she said in an emailed statement.

Younce is still with the St. Paul police, according to a department spokesman. Norman resigned a few years ago.

Handy-Jones was supported by Communities United Against Police Brutality, a local group that has played a large role in supporting individuals who accuse the police of misconduct. The organization's attorney, Bosman, was one of the lawyers representing Handy-Jones.

"We hope this shows there is always more than one side to the story, especially when the side being heard is the police," Bosman said.