Photo courtesy Scott Beardsley
Paul Heenan
The city of Madison and its insurance company have agreed to pay a $2.3 million settlement to the family of Paul Heenan, a 30-year-old musician shot and killed by Madison police officer Stephen Heimsness in November 2012.
"On behalf of Paul's parents, I want to let you know that they hope this settlement and the work it took to achieve this settlement will become part of the national conversation that is currently dealing with relationships between police officers and their respective communities and the dialogue between police officers and their respective communities that seems to be dreadfully out of sync," says Michael Fox, an attorney representing the Heenan estate.
Heenan, a Madison native who had recently moved back to the city, returned home intoxicated after a night out and mistakenly entered a neighbor’s house two doors away. The neighbor, Kevin O’Malley, recognized Heenan and tried to walk him home, but Heenan resisted and the two began fighting. O’Malley’s wife called 911.
Heimsness arrived on the scene with his gun drawn, ordering the two men to “get down.”
O’Malley stepped aside, but Heenan reportedly advanced toward Heimsness. The two engaged in a brief physical struggle and separated before Heimsness fired three shots into Heenan’s torso, killing him at the scene. Heimsness said Heenan tried to grab his gun.
Fox, along with attorneys Jeff Scott Olson and Andrea Farrell, announced the settlement to reporters at the state Capitol Tuesday afternoon. The lawyers say it is the largest settlement in state history for a fatal police shooting.
The settlement is not an admission of liability by the city, Fox says, but the lawyers and the family hope the case will serve as motivation for the Madison Police Department to reform its use-of-force policy.
“This settlement speaks louder than any admission of liability,” Fox says.
The attorneys released a video (below) featuring interviews with Heenan’s family and friends — had the case gone to trial, it would have been shown as evidence. The Heenan family has asked for privacy and directed all questions to its lawyers at this time, but Heenan’s friend and former roommate Amelia Royko Maurer says she hopes the settlement can offer the family closure and relief.
“I can’t presume that someone can heal from something like this,” she says. “I’m just so saddened for their loss. Paul was a tremendous, wonderful human being — it didn’t take him dying for people to notice that.”
After Heenan’s death, his family and friends pressured lawmakers to reform the process for investigating officer-involved shootings. In 2014, Gov. Scott Walker signed a law requiring external agencies to investigate when people die in police custody — the first of its kind in the nation.
“The Heenan family had one question going into the settlement negotiations: ‘Is it significant enough to send the message [we] want to send?’” Olson says.
Heimsness was cleared of any wrongdoing by two separate investigations conducted by Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne and the Madison Police Department, but the officer was the subject of multiple prior settlements for excessive use of force dating back to 2001, the attorneys said.
And after the MPD investigation, former Chief Noble Wray filed a complaint with the Police and Fire Commission to have Heimsness removed from the force for allegedly violating department policies in the months leading up to the shooting.
Farrell says that if the case had gone to trial, her legal team would have argued that the police department failed to supervise and fully investigate Heimsness’ prior infractions, which included written threats of violence against his coworkers and others.
If those threats had been properly investigated, Farrell says, “I believe [Heimsness] would not have been on the street.”
Friends and family remember Paul Heenan, a 30-year-old musician who was shot and killed by Madison Police Officer Stephen Heimsness on Nov. 9, 2012.
