From [HERE] The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday agreed to settle three unrelated lawsuits -- a fatal officer-involved shooting and two incidents of alleged excessive force by sheriff's deputies -- for a total of $1.9 million. A $900,000 settlement was approved in the Sept. 14, 2009, fatal shooting of 36-year-old black man, Darrick Collins.

Collins and another man were standing in the driveway of his home on 1234 Poindexter St. in the unincorporated Athens area and were spotted by sheriff's deputies searching for two suspects in an armed robbery. The deputy had chased Collins up his driveway and into his own backyard, believing he was a robbery suspect. 

According to a Sheriff's Department account, as the deputies exited their patrol car, Collins reached for his waistband and then ran. One deputy followed. The deputy claims he saw Collins reach for his waistband, causing him to fear that Collins was going for a weapon, sheriff's officials said. The deputy fired at Collins through a wooden gate, fatally hitting him in the back of the neck. At a news conference 17 days after his killing. Collins' mother, Bernastein Huckaby stood a few feet from where he son was shot and told reporters: "I just want justice for him. They took my son's life." A weapon was not found. His two minor children sued the county, alleging inadequate training of sheriff's deputies and the misuse of deadly force.