$4.8M settlement reached for widow of man shot, killed by Georgia trooper

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SCREVEN COUNTY, Ga. — The widow of a man shot and killed by a Georgia State Patrol trooper in August 2020 will receive a large settlement.

According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, a trooper attempted to pull over 60-year-old Julian Lewis for a darkened tail light. When the trooper tried making the traffic stop, Lewis sped up and led the trooper on a brief chase.

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According to the incident report, Lewis turned on his hazard signals and motioned with his hand out the driver’s side window but did not stop. The trooper went on to write that he feared for his life after stopping the car, leading him to draw his weapon.

The trooper used a P.I.T. maneuver to stop Lewis’ car. The car spun out into a ditch, according to the GBI.

The incident report says the trooper “saw [Lewis] wrenching the steering wheel in an aggressive back and forth manner towards me and my patrol vehicle. It appeared that the violator was trying to use his vehicle to injure me.”

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Lewis was shot in the face and killed while still sitting in his car about 60 miles northwest of Savannah.

Julian Lewis’ widow, Betty Lewis, was awarded a record-breaking $4.8 million settlement with the state of Georgia, according to her attorneys at Hall & Lampros, LLP.

“Our hearts grieve for Betty Lewis, who lost her Golden Years with her husband because of unwarranted and unnecessary deadly force during what should have been a routine traffic stop,” said Andrew Lampros, Co-Founder and Partner at Hall & Lampros.

Attorneys say this is the largest settlement in Georgia since 1990.

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