Without Admitting Wrongdoing Miami Beach Settles Taser Death of Teen Street Artist

October 8th, 2017

Awake Goy

Miami Beach officials have settled a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Israel Hernandez-Llach, the 18-year-old street artist who died on Aug. 6, 2013 after he was shot in the chest with a Taser fired by a city cop who was chasing him for scrawling graffiti on a wall.

The teen’s death generated national media coverage regarding the use of Tasers by police in handling suspects and intense scrutiny of the Miami Beach Police Department, which two years earlier had faced widespread criticism over the shooting death of a suspect and the wounding of four bystanders on Memorial Day Weekend in 2011.

Within weeks of Hernandez-Llach’s death, his parents and sister sued the city, alleging Miami Beach cops used “wrongful, unnecessary and unreasonable force” to detain the young man and then failed to provide him with proper medical care when he showed signs of distress.

According to court affidavits releasing the city and the police officers involved in the incident from any claims, Miami Beach officials expressly deny liability, but agreed to pay $100,000 to Hernandez-Llach’s father, Israel Hernandez Bandera, his mother Jacqueline Luz Llach and his sister Offir Hernandez Llach. Florida Bulldog obtained the affidavits, signed by the three surviving relatives on Aug. 3, last week through a public records request.

“The City of Miami Beach made the decision to resolve this lawsuit,” said deputy city attorney Aleksandr Boksner. “We believed this to be the best course of action in this matter.” Under Florida’s sovereign immunity law, governmental agencies are only required to pay up to $200,000 to the families of individuals injured or killed by municipal negligence.

Todd Falzone, a Fort Lauderdale attorney representing Hernandez-Llach’s family, did not return three phone messages seeking comment. Hernandez Bandera, who divorced Llach in 2009, said that he, his ex-wife and their daughter decided to settle after determining it would have cost them more money to take the case to trial than any amount they would be entitled to had they prevailed. He also said the family did not want to go through the pain of putting the officers on the stand so they could continue to give misleading statements about their role in killing Hernandez-Llach.

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