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Agrees to pay sisters of Red Lake Reservation man

A California police department has agreed to pay $500,000 to the siblings of an Indian man killed after a high-speed chase. Nathan Lee Rossbach, 40, died Oct. 6, 2002, near Los Angeles International Airport. His sisters filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city a year later, alleging officials with the Redondo Beach Police Department acted with negligence and used unjustified force. Police called it a tragic mistake. Rossbach was a member of the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Red Lake, Minn.Â In the settlement approved by the Redondo Beach City Council, Rossbach's sisters, Trudy Cook and Mamie Rossbach will divide the $500,000. Rossbach was out of prison for less than three weeks when he was shot in a stolen 1992 Ford Bronco at the end of the chase. An officer was attempting to subdue him with a so-called less-than-lethal beanbag round so they could pull him from the car, investigators said. Officer Michael Martinez passed a 12-gauge shotgun to Officer Michael Strosnider, who fired and then realized the gun was loaded with live ammunition.Most police departments at the time marked their beanbag shotguns with painted rings or colored tape so officers would avoid picking up the wrong weapon. Since the Rossbach shooting, Redondo officers have covered the stocks and forearms of the shotguns with fluorescent orange paint, Sgt. Phil Keenan said. [more]