Denver City Council OKs $40,000 Payout To Police Shooting Victim

DENVER (CBS4) - Denver City Council on Monday approved a payout to the victim of a police shooting that also cost the police officer his job.

The settlement was for $40,000 to be paid out to Diamond Demmer, the victim of the shooting. She was hit by shrapnel in a parking lot near 11th and Broadway after leaving Club Vinyl. Last year she filed a federal lawsuit against the officer and the city and county of Denver.

After a summer night at Club Vinyl in 2010 as patrons were headed home, shots were fired between Denver police officers and an armed suspect. As club goers ran to their cars amid the commotion, Demmer fell to the ground after getting hit by shrapnel from an officer's gun.

It was later determined that the officers were justified in firing their weapons but an investigation revealed that one officer used unapproved military grade ammunition, ammo that injured 27-year-old Demmer.

The Denver district attorney says Demmer was hit in the left leg and lower torso by bullet fragments from one of the rounds fired with more fragments hit her right leg.

While the officer was eventually fired, the city was left with a decision to make about Demmer and her injuries.

"At the end of the day it's about public safety. At the end of the day it's about public trust and you don't do that with military grade ammo," Councilman Paul Lopez said.

The payout is money that Lopez says needed to be paid out but hurts the city nonetheless.

"Whether it be $40,000 or $100,000, that money should go to libraries and other priorities," Lopez said.

In the federal lawsuit filed by Demmer, she claims she is now permanently disfigured and still has bullet fragments lodged in her body.