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$1.5M Settlement In Deputy Killing Of Knife-Waving Martinez Hospital Patient

MARTINEZ (CBS/AP) - Contra Costa County will pay nearly $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit over the death of a knife-waving man who was shot by sheriff's deputies in an emergency room.

The settlement was approved by county supervisors in July and reported last month.

Forty-seven-year-old Paul Hammond of Rio Vista was shot by deputies in 2009 as he waved a pocketknife he was using to cut his restraints in the emergency room at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center. He'd checked himself into the Martinez hospital for treatment of alcohol withdrawal symptoms and was agitated.

His four children filed a federal wrongful-death lawsuit last year. They claimed deputies used excessive force.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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