The federal government will pay $2.15 million to the relatives of a man whose neck was broken in a scuffle during a raid by immigration officers. The man later died of his injuries.
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery approved a settlement deal Tuesday between the family of Serafin Olvera Carrera and the government.
Carrera was paralyzed March 25, 2001, during a raid at his home involving three agents with the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, now U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The three former agents were convicted of willfully denying Carrera medical care after his injury. The officers said they thought Carrera, 47, was faking his injuries.
During the raid, Carrera struggled and headed toward a sink that contained knives, and officers threw him to the ground and handcuffed him.
Left paralyzed from the neck down, Carrera later suffered heart and respiratory problems related to his paralysis and was left brain dead. The father of five from Mexico was finally taken off life support.