California reaches $24 million settlement with family of man who died in police custody

The state of California has reached a $24m settlement with the family of Edward Bronstein, the man who died while being restrained by state highway patrol officers in 2020.

Mr Bronstein was pulled over by officers on suspicion of driving under the influence on March 31, 2020 and was pinned to the ground by officers after initially declining to submit to a blood test. In a nearly 18-minute video of the incident released in its aftermath, Mr Bronstein can be heard telling the officers “I can’t breathe” before losing consciousness.

According to Annee Della Donna, an attorney for Mr Bronstein’s family, the settlement is the largest civil rights settlement ever agreed to by the state of California and second largest in the history of the country following the settlement reached by the city of Minneapolis with George Floyd’s family.

This story will be updated.