One officer in Tyisha Miller shooting reaches settlement

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) A settlement approved Thursday with one of the officers who shot black teenager Tyisha Miller pays him $50,000 and half his salary tax-free for life.

But the deal keeps Michael Alagna from returning to the police force. Alagna, 31, was one of four officers fired after the fatal shooting in December 1998.

Alagna, who received a medical retirement based on a shoulder injury suffered four days before the shooting, had previously sought a disability retirement and one was granted based on psychiatric injuries, but he presented evidence that he had fully recovered, the settlement agreement said.

The settlement ends all other legal action between the city and Alagna.

``The city's objective was to ensure that Officer Alagna not continue with his employment on the Riverside police force and this settlement ensures this takes place,'' said Richard Roth, who handled the case for the city.

Alagna's attorney Bill Hadden said the settlement agreement was satisfactory to both sides.

Negotiations for three other officers Wayne Stewart, Dan Hotard and Paul Bugar are ongoing, officials said.

The city approved disability retirements for Alagna and Stewart last year, but Stewart has not reached a settlement agreement. He also has other legal actions pending.

There have been no developments in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Hotard and Bugar, according to Richard Terzian, the attorney handling the case for the city. An arbitrator has ruled that Alagna and Stewart were wrongly terminated after the Miller shooting.

Miller, 19, of Rubidoux was shot and killed while she sat unresponsive inside a locked, idling car at a Riverside gas station on Dec. 28, 1998. She had a gun on her lap. The officers have said they fired in self-defense when she moved toward the weapon.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)