Justice has been served!

Chandler pays $2 mil in lawsuit
City OKs record settlement in officer's killing of woman

Edythe Jensen
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 27, 2003 12:00 AM

Chandler will pay the largest taxpayer-funded settlement in city history to the family of an Ahwatukee Foothills mother shot to death by former police Officer Daniel Lovelace.

Bob Boatman, attorney for the family of Dawn Rae Nelson, confirmed Wednesday that an out-of-court settlement has been reached, but the amount is confidential. The city's portion, $1.94 million, is nearly double the highest previous amounts because Chandler raised its insurance deductible to $2 million last year. The remaining $60,000 of the deductible has been spent on legal expenses, city officials said.

Nelson, 35, was shot to death Oct. 11, 2002, by Lovelace after, officials say, she attempted to fill a forged prescription at a Walgreens drugstore drive-through. Her 14-month-old son was in the back seat.

Lovelace, 39, faces a preliminary hearing in Superior Court on Dec. 9 on second-degree murder charges. He contends that Nelson was driving toward him and that he fired in self-defense. Chandler Law Enforcement Association President Dave LeVoy said the union backs Lovelace and is funding his defense.

But three witnesses reported that Lovelace ran after the woman's car and shot her from behind. A shooting reconstructionist backed their accounts.

The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation of Lovelace's conduct, said Harriet Bernick, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office. She declined to answer questions about that investigation.

Lovelace's actions in another case cost Chandler $1 million last year. That was the city's portion of a $1.4 million settlement with the mother of Bradley Downing III, 18, who was killed March 13, 2000, when a stolen pickup truck pursued by Lovelace in a high-speed chase crashed into Downing's car at McQueen and Warner roads.