Seattle settles largest ever police abuse suit

Mary Bruno

Mary Bruno Jun 28, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

Republish Article

You can republish articles in print or online. Simply copy the HTML below, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline, and credit to Cascade PBS. Republishing of the photos or videos embedded in an article can occur only if the photo or video is a copyright of Cascade Public Media ("CPM") and not of a third party. Photos and videos that are a copyright of CPM are not required to appear in the republished article, but if they are used, they must be embedded where they appear in the original article and must include the attribution to the CPM photographer.

You may reprint in any medium
You may edit only for tense and timeliness
If republishing in print you can edit for length if you follow our print republishing guidelines.
You may write your own headline
Include a byline and shirttail with credit and link to Cascade PBS
Include our tracking pixel
Remove if we ask

          <article>
            <header>
              <hgroup>
                <h1>Seattle settles largest ever police abuse suit</h1>
                <h2><p>In 2009, Seattle police officer Eugene Schubeck shot Nathaniel Caylor in the face. Police had responded to a call that Caylor was suicidal, high on drugs and alcohol and locked, with his 20-month-old son, inside his Greenwood apartment. Six years, 17 surgeries and a lot of legal maneuvering later, the</p></h2>
              </hgroup>
               <p>By <a href="/author/mary-bruno-crosscut-com/">Mary Bruno</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
            </header>
            <p>In 2009, Seattle police officer Eugene Schubeck shot Nathaniel Caylor in the face. Police had responded to a call that Caylor was suicidal, high on drugs and alcohol and locked, with his 20-month-old son, inside his Greenwood apartment. Six years, 17 surgeries and a lot of legal maneuvering later, the City of Seattle settled Caylor's excessive force lawsuit on Tuesday for $1.975 million. The total, reports <a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/spd-1975m-use-of-force-settlement-thought-to-be-citys-largest/?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org"><em>The Seattle Times</em></a>, is believed to be the largest police-abuse settlement in city history. It was a "business decision," City Attorney Pete Holmes told <em>The Times</em>.</p>
          </article>

In 2009, Seattle police officer Eugene Schubeck shot Nathaniel Caylor in the face. Police had responded to a call that Caylor was suicidal, high on drugs and alcohol and locked, with his 20-month-old son, inside his Greenwood apartment. Six years, 17 surgeries and a lot of legal maneuvering later, the City of Seattle settled Caylor's excessive force lawsuit on Tuesday for $1.975 million. The total, reports The Seattle Times, is believed to be the largest police-abuse settlement in city history. It was a "business decision," City Attorney Pete Holmes told The Times.

Our members' donations make local journalism happen.

Support once for $1

Support monthly for $7

Cascade PBS Passport
Mossback members-only newsletter
Print Viewer Guide (opt-in)

Support monthly for $25

Invitation to quarterly news and original programming video conference
Annual in-person meet-up with news & programming teams
Special event perks (reduced price or free tickets, cocktails, etc.)

Continue

By Mary Bruno

Mary was Crosscut's Editor-in-Chief and Interim Publisher. In more than 25 years as a journalist, she has worked as a writer, editor and editorial director for a variety of print and web publications,