BLOOD MONEY

Santa Clara Quietly Pays $5.3 Million to Family of Mentally Ill Man Killed by Cops

“Nothing is going to bring Jesus back,” said a family attorney. “But $5.3 million does send a message that the city did something wrong.”

The city of Santa Clara issued a $5.3 million payment last month to the family of a man killed in 2017 by cops, and only revealed the payout when a Mercury News reporter filed a records request. Cops had responded to calls about Jesus Geney Montes having a psychiatric breakdown. He had barricaded himself in his room, and repeatedly told officers “he had a gun and would shoot them if they came in,” according to a report by the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office. Body-cam footage shows an officer shooting Montes, 24, after he had fled from his bedroom window. He ended up only having a small knife that he’d been using to self-harm, and he was separated by a chain-link fence from the officer. “Nothing is going to bring Jesus back,” said a family attorney. “But $5.3 million does send a message that the city did something wrong.”