Blood money, or blood wite, is money or some sort of compensation paid by an offender (usually a murderer) or his/her family group to the family or kin group of the victim.
You killed him. Shot him dead in cold blood. Six, seven times you fired. Because you imagined a knife. Or because his leg was caught in a seat belt. Or just because.
And you got away with it. 'Cause you're a cop. And cops always get away with murder. Just ask Kelly Thomas. Or Alan Blueford. Oh wait, you can't. They're dead too. Just like Ernest Duenez Jr., the human being you gunned down in cold blood. But I repeat myself.
Yup, you got away with it, while the City of Manteca which pays your salary didn't. They settled yesterday for $2,200,000. That's a sum beyond the reckoning of many, but no sum can compensate for the terror his wife felt as she saw him lying there bleeding, dying. No sum can compensate for having his son grow up without his father, watching the video over, and over, and over.
It's blood money. It's just that in America it's called a civil liability suit and you didn't have to pay it. Neither did the attorneys who negotiated it or the elected officials who approved it. What you got was a nice vacation courtesy of the same taxpayers who paid it, but don't even understand they paid it. And you got your job back and a great retirement package.
It's just money, John. And Ernest's blood.
Ernesto Duenez Jr. was killed on June 8, 2011 by police officer John Moody...
The graphic dash cam video shows an officer pulling up behind a pick-up truck, and Duenez getting out. The officer tells him to put his hands up, then fires off about a dozen shots, hitting Duenez...
The Duenez family's attorney has filed a lawsuit against the City of Manteca, the police department, at least two officers, and others claiming excessive force, malicious conduct and wrongful death. They are also asking the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the shooting and file murder charges.