Arizona city pays $8 million to family of unarmed man gunned down by cops as he begged for his life

An Arizona city reached an $8 million settlement with the family of a Texas man gunned down by police nearly seven years ago in a hotel hallway.

Mesa police had responded in January 2016 to a report of a man pointing a rifle out of a hotel window and confronted Daniel Shaver in the hallway, and body camera footage showed the unarmed 26-year-old on his knees, begging for his life, when former officer Philip "Mitch" Brailsford opened fire five times, killing him, reported AZ Central.

Brailsford was fired shortly afterward for violating department policies, and Maricopa County prosecutors charged him with second-degree murder, but he was found not guilty in 2017 and temporarily rehired by the department to apply for a pension and then took medical retirement.

The city settled a lawsuit with Shaver's widow that will be funded by Mesa's insurer, with a large portion set aside for his children.

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Last year the city paid Shaver's parents $1.5 million in a separate settlement agreement.

His widow, Laney Sweet, wants the Department of Justice to bring criminal charges against Brailsford and other officers involed in Shaver's death.

The police department in 2018 confirmed a civil rights investigation by DOJ, but a spokesman said the city has not received an update on the status of that probe.

Shaver had been in Mesa on a work-related trip, and police later found a pellet gun in his hotel room that he used for his job as a pest-control worker.