By Kapish Kalita
OAKLAND, CA – Alameda County has agreed to pay $1.95 million, with Oakland paying $450,000, in the settlement of a negligence and civil rights lawsuit against Oakland Police and the Alameda County Probation Department filed by the widow of Miles Armstead, according to the Mercury-News and other news outlets.
The lawsuit was filed after the murder of Armstead by his violent, mentally ill neighbor, Jamal Thomas, said reports.
Before the murder, Armstead and his family called the police around 23 times, informing the police of Thomas’s violent behavior toward them, which included breaking into their house and repeated death threats.
However, Oakland police, according to a lawsuit, ignored Armstead’s pleas, informing him that Thomas “would never be a priority for them (and they would do nothing to help).”
While Thomas was eventually put on probation, Alameda County probation officers failed to properly supervise him, not keeping track of his location, and failing to look for Thomas after they lost contact, said a family lawsuit.
The events preceding Armstead’s death were described “as a great injustice” by Oakland attorney Adanté Pointer, who represented Armstead’s family.
Armstead was a father of five, a wealth manager at Fremont Bank, and he and his wife Melina were expecting their first child when he was shot to death on May 1, 2020. He was 44. 
