The City of Boston will pay $4.6 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the mother of Terrence Coleman, nearly eight years after police responded to her call for help for her mentally ill son and fatally shot the young Black man.
“No mother should have to witness her child killed at the hands of police and fight, the way that I have had to fight now for so many years, to gain accountability,” said Hope Coleman, Terrence Coleman’s mother and an advocate for victims of police violence. “Nothing can bring Terrence back, but today at least some measure of justice has been done.”
Terrence Coleman, who was a 31-year-old with paranoid schizophrenia, was shot on Oct. 30, 2016 in the South End, after Hope Coleman called for an ambulance to take her son to the hospital while he was having an episode outside her apartment. Police said the young man attacked officers with a knife, but his mother disputes the allegations and has stated repeatedly there was “no reason for the Boston police to kill my son.”
Hope Coleman filed the federal lawsuit in 2018, claiming police and emergency medical technicians were inadequately trained to deal with people with mental health disabilities and her son’s rights were violated. Coleman was represented by the Lawyers for Civil Rights and Fick & Marx LLP.
Under the settlement, the city will pay approximately $3.4 million to Hope Coleman and Terrence Coleman’s estate and $1.2 million to cover the legal expenses. The settlement does not include an admission of liability.
“This settlement brings valuable resolution to this case after many years and is not the result of the BPD officers’ actions during the incident or legal process,” a city spokesperson said Tuesday. “The City continues to support the officers, who were called into an incredibly difficult situation, and responded to protect the lives of medical personnel on the scene.”
LCR Litigation Director Sophia Hall said it was “shameful that the City of Boston fought a grieving mother tooth-and-nail for so long” and said the settlement will help bring the family closure.
The spokesperson said the city continues “to hold Ms. Coleman and all of Terrence’s family and loved ones in our hearts” and has and will continue to invest in alternative response programs for people experiencing mental health episodes.
LCR said the case has “amplified concerns” regarding police violence toward Black residents and “uncovered grave deficiencies” in how BPD and EMS serve people with mental health conditions.
“More than a decade after a BPD rule designed to de-escalate encounters with emotionally disturbed persons was first proposed, and more than seven years after Terrence was killed, BPD and BEMS remain woefully unprepared to handle such situations safely,” said the plaintiffs’ attorney William Fick.
The LCR release pointed to “long-needed” efforts to reform police procedures — calling out a failed City Council proposal to develop a crisis response system that would divert nonviolent 911 calls away from police. The release also cited a 2023 Boston Globe report concluding the rate of police shootings of people with mental illness has risen since 2016.
“Police departments throughout the country must reform the way they handle 911 calls and divert medical calls away from police,” said Hall. “Otherwise, we will continue to see more tragedies like the death of Terrence Coleman. Hopefully, today’s settlement will lead to more much-needed reforms, in Boston and beyond.”
