NORTH CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) – The family of a teenager who died after being struck by a vehicle during a police chase have settled a lawsuit.

Jalen Carter’s family sued the North Charleston Police Department and a former officer alleging negligence, excessive force, wrongful death and improper search and seizure in the wake of Carter’s death.

Carter’s family will receive a settlement of $ 150,000 in the lawsuit.

Carter died of his injuries on November 17, 2017, about six days after the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed in October 2018, claimed that on or around November 11, 2017, around 3:44 p.m., Carter and a friend were standing outside the Appian Way Apartments on Patriot Boulevard. When the officer attempted to make contact with Carter and his friend when Carter began to flee on foot, the lawsuit said.

Court documents alleged the officer chased Carter with his drawn gun and, as Carter attempted to cross Patriot Boulevard, he was struck by a car.

The lawsuit asserted that Carter was unarmed and therefore did not pose a threat to the public or the officer, which meant that lethal force was not justified; the officer should have drawn his gun only if lethal force was appropriate, he said.

The prosecution claimed that the officer “did not exercise sufficient care to know and realize that Jalen was unarmed and did not pose a threat of serious injury or death” and that the officer had the duty “to properly and accurately assess a specific situation before resorting to the potential use of lethal force.

The payment came from the State Insurance Reserve Fund.

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