By Kim Palmer
CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Cleveland officials have agreed to pay $6 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy who was shot dead by a white police officer in 2014, according to documents filed in federal court on Monday.
The city made no admission of wrongdoing in the shooting and Rice's family agreed to drop the complaint against the officer who shot him and another officer, U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster, who mediated the settlement, said in the documents.
Rice was shot in a local park by Timothy Loehmann, one of two white officers who were responding to reports of a suspect with a gun. An investigation revealed that Rice, who died a day after the shooting, had been seen holding a replica gun that shoots plastic pellets.
The shooting was one of several that have fueled scrutiny of police use of deadly force, particularly against minorities.
Rice's family filed its lawsuit against the city and the two officers two weeks after the shooting. They had also demanded that the officers be charged, a special prosecutor handle the case and the U.S. Justice Department investigate.
In December, a grand jury declined to bring criminal charges against the officers.
Settlement talks began in early March, according to court documents.
Under the terms of the settlement, which must be approved by a probate judge, Rice's estate will receive $5.5 million and Rice's mother, Samaria, and his sister will each receive another $250,000, according to the documents.
(Reporting by Kim Palmer; Writing by Ben Klayman; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Paul Simao)