Pocatello to potentially settle Victor Perez lawsuit Thursday evening
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POCATELLO — Pocatello could conclude the lawsuit over the death of Victor Perez at its council meeting Thursday evening.
On the agenda for the Nov. 5 City Council meeting, the seventeenth agenda item is titled “Resolution of Pending Litigation.” Thursday afternoon, a city official confirmed for EastIdahoNews.com that this would be in relation to the wrongful death lawsuit filed against the city over the police shooting of 17-year-old Victor Perez in April last year.
“Council may wish to authorize the Mayorʼs signature on pertinent documents necessary to resolve pending litigation and authorize the use of reserve funds for said resolution, as discussed during the Executive Session held on August 20, 2026, subject to Legal Department review,” the agenda item description reads.
On April 5, four Pocatello Police officers responded to a 911 call reporting a disturbance on West Bridger Street, where officers found Perez lying on the ground in his grandfather, Luis Alicea’s, fenced backyard while holding a kitchen knife.
Officers aimed their weapons at Perez, and then discharged them when he approached them, with the interaction lasting for less than 20 seconds from the time they exited their vehicles.
Three of the officers fired live rounds at Perez while one fired a beanbag round from a shotgun. A letter from the Attorney General’s Office states that the autopsy report found 12 gunshot wounds on Perez.
Perez has been described as being autistic and having several other developmental disabilities, including cerebral palsy. After receiving multiple surgeries and having his leg amputated, Perez was taken off life support a week after the shooting when doctors found him to be clinically brain-dead.
According to a court document detailing the settlement agreement, the city would pay a settlement agreement of $4.5 million to Perez’s family.
A total of $1.67 million of this would go toward attorney fees, with Alicea receiving a net settlement of $1.6 million, Wanda Alicea, Perez’s mother, receiving $532,099, and Perez’s sister, who was a minor at the time of the incident, receiving $667,099.
EastIdahoNews.com will be covering this meeting.