The City of Tempe has reached a multi-million dollar settlement with the family of a 14-year-old Latino boy who was fatally shot in the back by a police officer in 2019.
The Tempe City Council yesterday approved the $2 million settlement in the shooting of Antonio Arce by now-resigned officer Joseph Jaen. The shooting happened in January of 2019 when the officer responded to a 911 call about a possible vehicle burglary in an alley. He shot the boy in the back as he ran away holding a non-lethal pellet gun. The suit says the boy did not present any threat and did not point the replica gun at the officer. It also alleges that Jaen did not identify himself as an officer. Jaen resigned four months after the shooting and was later granted an early disability retirement.
