The City of Troy has settled a lawsuit related to last year’s death of a delivery driver, who was killed in a collision with a city police officer. The city will pay more than $5.75 million to the family of Sabeeh Alalkawi, who was killed when officer Justin Byrnes allegedly ran a red light at a high rate of speed without his siren on while responding to a domestic violence incident. The lawsuit was filed by Alalkawi’s wife in October. Mantello says she’s happy to put the February 2023 incident “in the past.”
“It's horrific what happened and my sincere thoughts, my heart goes out to the family,” Mantello said. “Hopefully this can at least put that issue to bed. The issue will never rest when, you know, the kids are growing up without their dad. But saying that hopefully this can move their family forward.”
Mantello says $650,000 was set aside in the 2023 budget and the remainder of the settlement will be covered by insurance. Mantello says Byrnes, who had been removed from patrol duties but was still on staff, is no longer with the department as of Tuesday.
“His driver’s license was suspended, which did not qualify him to meet those minimum requirements to be a police officer,” Mantello said.
