The City Settles

CINCINNATI — More than 10 years after Quandavier Hicks was shot and killed by Cincinnati police officers in Northside, his family and the City of Cincinnati have settled a lawsuit regarding deadly use of force.

City Manager Sheryl Long said the city chose to settle “to avoid the costs and uncertainty of a jury trial and to bring finality to this case.” With the settlement agreement, the Hicks family was awarded $1,450,000, subject to city council appropriation.

The Hicks family federally sued the city, Cincinnati Police Department and the officers involved in 2016, nearly a year after the 22-year-old was killed.

Hicks was shot after police responded to reports that he had invaded two neighbors’ home and threatened them. When police arrived at Hicks’ Northside home, and he opened the door, officers discovered he was holding a rifle, according to police records. The city said Hicks then pointed the rifle at an officer, who then fired their service weapon, striking Hicks. Hicks was pronounced dead at the scene.

Public outcry surrounding Hicks’ death was almost instantaneous, with a large group forming around the scene in just minutes after the shooting, leading to two people being arrested. Multiple protests outside CPD’s headquarters also occurred in the following weeks.

According to the lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of Hicks’ grandmother, Ruby Hicks, CPD “created a dangerous situation” and used “excessive force” when they responded to Hicks’ home that night.

The police shooting occurred before body-worn cameras were implemented by CPD, but the city said they have spent more than a decade “arguing its belief that the officers involved were justified in their actions.”

In a release about the settlement, the city said the courts that initially reviewed the shooting found that the CPD officers were justified in their use of deadly force. The appellate court later, after two separate appeals in 2020 and 2024, declined to find that the officers “acted permissibly when they entered the building,” saying that a jury should decide liability for the city and officers.