Family, feds reach $5M settlement of Park Police shooting

By MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — The family of a northern Virginia man fatally shot by U.S. Park Police officers has reached a $5 million settlement of its civil lawsuit against the government. Two officers shot 25-year-old Bijan Ghaisar of McLean in November 2017 after a stop-and-go chase on the George Washington Memorial Parkway outside the nation’s capital. Ghaisar was unarmed, but the officers said they feared for their lives when Ghaisar’s car lurched forward after it had stopped and the officers stood outside the vehicle with weapons drawn. The officers never faced criminal charges but the case subjected Park Police to criticism about excessive force and a lack of transparency over five years of legal wrangling.