Standstill with federal lawsuit ‘holding up growth’ in State College, Osagie family says
Attorneys for the family of a State College man fatally shot three years ago by a borough police officer expressed a desire Sunday to resolve their federal lawsuit, but said the borough’s insurance company has been unwilling to engage in settlement discussions.
Sylvester and Iyun Osagie — the parents of Osaze Osagie — are eager to “bring about something good from this tragedy,” attorney Andy Shubin said. That includes “meaningful programming and meaningful resources for people with mental health challenges.”
“In the legal part of this tragedy, we see that there are four parties: There’s the family, there’s the community, there’s the Borough Council leadership and then there’s an insurance company,” Shubin said. “Three of those stakeholders are in town, they’re part of our community and one is a faceless bureaucracy that is an interloper and from out of town. That is the one entity that is now holding up healing, holding up growth, holding up changes in our community, holding up discussions in terms of how to resolve this case.”
The Osagies have asked for the meetings for more than a year, attorney Kathleen Yurchak said. The family filed its lawsuit in November 2020.
The filing alleged years’ worth of systematic failings by the borough to implement policies that would protect people with mental health disabilities during encounters with police. The family is seeking unspecified monetary damages.
“In these situations, there are insurance companies that really hire the attorney and run the show for them when it comes to legal settlement issues. It is really about an insurance company who has no interest and no stake in what happens in this community,” Shubin said. “No care in the world about whether we can begin to heal and can begin to grow. They’ve expressed no interest in sitting down with this family and trying to resolve their claims. That is a great tragedy, and we hope the Borough Council will address that.”
Attorney David MacMain represents the borough and the three police officers named in the lawsuit. He pushed back in an email Monday.
“It is presumptuous that the team of attorneys representing the Osagie family, who stand to profit from a financial settlement, purport to speak for what they think is best for (the) ‘entire’ community,” MacMain wrote. “This was a tragic incident for four families: One family that lost their son, and three other families whose loved ones place their lives on the line every day. (They) were faced with a decision that no officer wishes to make — having to choose between protecting their lives or the life of another who is trying to end it.”
Osagie, a Black man with chronic mental illnesses, was fatally shot by former borough police officer M. Jordan Pieniazek, who is white. Three officers said Osagie, 29, charged at them with a knife in a narrow hallway.
Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna cleared the officers of criminal wrongdoing, saying they were in a “life-or-death” situation. It was the first fatal shooting in the police department’s history.
“In short, the Borough, the Police Department, and its officials and police officers, both past and present, have been involved and are committed to open discussions following this tragic incident about the challenges that officers face when responding to mental health calls with threats of violence as was the case here,” MacMain wrote. “However, the lawyers’ efforts to negotiate a financial settlement in the press is not productive, and detracts from the process of healing, unity and change, which was the primary stated purpose of the lawsuit.”
Shubin and Yurchak spoke Sunday after a ceremony at the Albright-Bethune United Methodist Church to mark the three-year anniversary of Osagie’s killing.
Both Sylvester and Iyun spoke during the ceremony between prayer and songs.
“I strongly believe that his blood in the soil of State College is speaking wonders. If you will listen, you will hear it,” Iyun said during Sunday’s ceremony. “... We are also concerned that the blood that cries out of the ground will receive the justice it demands.”
She later added: “Let his blood speak peace and unity and healing, and let State College listen.”
The largest payout since at least 1987 to resolve a lawsuit that alleged police misconduct in the borough is $150,000. A State College man was seriously injured when a borough police officer crashed into him in 2008.
The borough spent more than $15,000 as of October to defend against the lawsuit filed by the Osagies.
Mayor Ezra Nanes and Borough Council President Jesse Barlow were among those that attended the ceremony. Nanes, who issued a proclamation declaring March 20, 2022 the Osaze Osagie Day of Unity, said Monday he was “very proud” to attend.
“Osaze Osagie’s life and his death continue to be a source of very deep and powerful emotion and pain,” Nanes said. “... The best that we can hope to do is to turn some of that pain into something that helps our community over the long run.”
Dispositive filings are due July 22. Trial dates have not been rescheduled after being originally set for November.