Despite a federal jury’s $4.5 million verdict, Birmingham will pay $750,000 to settle a federal lawsuit against an officer who shot two people nearly six years ago after a car chase.

“Regardless of the amount that was ultimately decided or settled on, the important thing is that people have to be accountable,” said Johnathan Austin, the Birmingham attorney who sued the city and the officer. “Our citizens have rights that must be protected. When those rights are violated, there are consequences.”

A jury in Birmingham last year awarded $4.5 million after finding that Officer Aric Mitchell used excessive force when he shot and killed 28-year-old Jamarcus Moore and injured Samantha Hardin. Body camera footage obtained and published by AL.com after the trial appeared to conflict with the police account of what happened on the night of June 15, 2019.

After the trial in federal court last year, the city filed an appeal. U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco brought down the total judgment to $2.75 million last August, court records show.

“The court declines to hold that the unconstitutionality of Officer Mitchell’s conduct was clearly established at the time of the shooting,” Judge Manasco said in an order, adding that Mitchell was entitled to qualified immunity.

And last week, the Birmingham City Council voted to pay $750,000 to settle the case and end the appeal process. The council voted unanimously without discussing the matter in its public meeting.

Rick Journey, the city’s spokesperson, declined to comment.

“The case will be dismissed on all claims/appeals once the parties have signed everything and filed a stipulation of dismissal,” Austin said in a message to AL.com on Monday.

On the night of the shooting, Moore was driving with Hardin from Fairfield to Ensley when they noticed a police officer following them with flashing lights. Moore sped away from the officer because he had a warrant out for his arrest, according to the lawsuit. State court records show Moore had warrants for failure to appear in court on charges of drug possession, attempting to elude police and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The bodycam footage from 2019 shows a 20-minute chase that wound through Birmingham, Bessemer and into Hueytown. A report filed by Alabama Law Enforcement Agency says that as police chased the Toyota Camry along Interstate 59/20, someone fired gunshots from the passenger window, not at police but at other cars traveling on the highway.

The report also notes that no one ever came forward to report being shot at and that police never identified or found the people allegedly fired on.

“Flashes of light, consistent with that of muzzle flash, appeared to have been recorded via video recordings from in-car cameras of BPD police vehicles regarding gunshots fired by an occupant of the Toyota Camry,” says the state report from August of 2019.

“Although the gunfire from the Toyota Camry had been heard and reported by multiple BPD officers…” the report reads, “no information was found to exist or show that any person had seen or could identify (eyewitness) which occupant of the Toyota Camry (Moore or Hardin) had fired the gunshots.”

According to time stamps on the video, the chase went on for about six more minutes after that report of gunfire before Mitchell’s patrol car crashed into the Camry.

Within seconds of colliding with the Camry, Mitchell got out of his vehicle and fired four shots into the driver side of the Camry from several feet away, the video appeared to show.

Mitchell told an internal affairs investigator that he saw Moore reaching for a gun. Police reported finding a gun on the driver side floorboard of the Camry, according to the state investigation and autopsy reports.

Moore, who had been driving the Camry, died at the scene on Allison-Bonnett Memorial Drive. The officer’s gunfire also hit Hardin and broke her leg.

Hardin and Moore’s sister filed the federal lawsuit in 2021, alleging the officer violated their civil rights. A report by state police said the officer fired his gun four times into the Camry.

“Things could have ended a lot differently for Mr. Moore, had the police taken their time and gave things a chance to de-escalate,” Austin told AL.com.

After the jury watched the bodycam video during last year’s trial Judge Manasco released the footage to AL.com over objections from the city and the officer.

She ruled that the public has a right to see the videos.

“They are part of the public record in this case and are not and have never been sealed,” Judge Manasco wrote in an order last February.

“Our clients want closure, and closure is knowing exactly what happened to them,” Austin told AL.com. “Every family has that right to know what happened to their loved one, and you have to be accountable for that.”