The city of Philadelphia has agreed to pay a $3 million settlement to the family of a 12-year-old boy who was fatally shot in the back by a police officer, their attorney announced.
The encounter began when four officers in plain clothes in an unmarked car spotted Thomas “T.J.” Siderio and a 17-year-old friend riding their bikes in March 2022. The officers believed Siderio’s friend was “tangentially connected to a stolen firearm investigation involving a third person” and initiated a stop, though their purported reasons for doing so varied, according to a grand jury findings.
At nearly the same time that the undercover car’s flashing lights were activated, a gunshot shattered the rear passenger side window sending shards of glass into one of the officer’s faces. The grand jury concluded Siderio had “likely fired” a weapon into the car as it was pulling up…