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City Agrees To Pay Out Settlement To Family Of Man Killed By Baltimore Police

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore City agrees to pay tens of thousands of dollars to the family of a man shot and killed by police in 2012. As WJZ has been investigating, it is the latest in a series of payouts the city has made over claims of police brutality and excessive force.

Derek Valcourt explains the family had sued for $10 million.

The settlement allows the city to maintain that the officers did nothing wrong. It also prevents the city from having to go to trial.

It was July 1, 2012 when police say they saw 38-year-old Michael Wudtee assault his girlfriend near the intersection of Liberty Heights and Gwynn Oak. When they tried to stop him, he ran and a struggle followed. Wudtee was shot in the chest and died.

Wednesday, the City Board of Estimates agreed to settle his family's lawsuits to the tune of $175,000.

Eeven as more and more police interactions are caught on cell phones cameras, the city continues to grapple with excessive force complaints against officers.

In fact, a recent investigation by The Baltimore Sun discovered over the last four years taxpayers have forked out more than $11 million in judgments, settlements and legal fees.

Wednesday, the mayor spoke about the latest settlement.

"I would be disheartened if I didn't see the consistent trend downward," said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

She and Baltimore City Police Commissioner Anthony Batts have vowed to restore public trust in the department.

The city says convictions against officers accused of wrongdoing are up, and the number of police misconduct complaints are down, even as video surfaces this week of another arrest involving alleged unnecessary harm by officers.

"I would love to be in a place where we had zero incidents, but that's not the real world, and the real world progress that we are making is encouraging," the mayor said.

Police body cameras also now in the works so the department has more evidence of when police force is justified or crosses the line.

The U.S. Department of Justice is also reviewing many of the department's policies. They will hold an open town hall style meeting to get input from city residents about police brutality this Thursday at Coppin State University.

That meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. at Coppin State's physical education complex.

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