Family Of Teen Shot By Rookie Cop Could Get $1 Million

Jerrod Miller Shot After Driving Without License

POSTED: Wednesday, September 12, 2007

City commissioners have voted to settle a lawsuit with the family of 16-year-old Jerrod Miller.

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. -- City commissioners have voted to settle a lawsuit with the family of a Delray Beach teenager who was fatally shot by a rookie police officer.

The vote clears the way to pay $1 million to 16-year-old Jerrod Miller's family. It still needs the approval of a federal judge.

The officer, Darren Cogoni, was 23 at the time of the shooting and had finished police training just three weeks before.

Cogoni said he asked to see Miller's driver's license as the teen drove onto school property for a dance in 2005. Witnesses said the teenager drove off erratically, scattering students gathered outside the school gym. He did not have a license.

The officer fired at Miller and struck him in the back of the head.

A judge recommended charging Cogoni with manslaughter, but a grand jury declined to indict him. He has been fired from his job.

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