"In the years that followed, Kaylee Sawyer's Estate filed litigation against the College and three of its administrators. Last Friday, with the assistance of a mediator, the parties have reached a settlement calling for the payment of $2 million to the Estate and termination of the litigation. Sawyer's family and friends, and shook the Bend community. "On July 24, 2016, twenty-three-year-old Kaylee Sawyer was abducted and brutally murdered on the campus of Central Oregon Community College (COCC) by a former campus public safety officer. He noted that in previous years, students, professors and Bend Police Chief Jim Porter had told COCC officials that the campus Public Safety Department “was acting outside of their legal authority and that tragic events could result.” He said the school even paid for an internal safety audit that recommended major changes to the conduct and appearance of the campus public safety officers.īut “COCC did nothing,” Williams said, still equipping their officers with police-like uniforms, pepper spray, ballistic vests, body cameras and handcuffs.ĬOCC issued a statement Thursday morning on the settlement: “This tragedy was not unforeseeable,” family attorney Tim Williams said of Sawyer’s killing. ![]() That was a key element in legislation known as Kaylee’s Law, signed a year ago, that was sought by her father and stepmother, Jamie and Crystal Sawyer, and sets out standards for campus security officers and their vehicles, to better differentiate them from police officers. The case was scheduled to go to trial in September.Īmong other claims, the lawsuit, amended earlier this year, alleged the college failed to do an adequate background check on Lara and was providing officers with uniforms and vehicles made to resemble police. It also alleged several state law claims, from assault and battery to professional misconduct and wrongful death. The federal civil rights lawsuit, filed against the college by Sawyer's family a year after her killing, also named Lara, then-COCC President Shirley Metcalf and other officials. He later was sentenced to life in prison for a murder that rocked the Central Oregon community. Lara soon fled the area, then abducted a Salem woman, who drove him to California, where he was caught and arrested the next day. He took her to a secluded spot, where he raped and fatally bludgeoned her. The 23-year-old had been offered a ride by Edwin Lara, on July 24, 2016, in his police-like patrol car that had a “cage” separating the front and back seats, and doors that could not be opened from the inside. (KTVZ) – Nearly four years to the day after Central Oregon Community College student Kaylee Sawyer was brutally murdered by a security officer on the Bend campus, the school has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a federal civil lawsuit for its role in her killing, the family’s attorneys said. VanCleave said they hope to expand the program out of state, to give children more books.īEND, Ore. She said the family plans to use part of the settlement to continue KK's Readers, a program she started that provides books for kids in head start and early education programs. They will never come out and say they had a role, but I think the settlement award that we got says it for them.” "So in a way, I feel like they were acknowledging their role in this. ![]() ![]() ![]() “There's a cap that can be awarded, and COCC paid more than what that cap was," VanCleave said. The extradition process is still in the works and Lara’s next court appearance is scheduled for August 16.VanCleave said her family was awarded over the amount of the cap, and she believes in part that it's COCC's way of taking accountability for their role. Timeline of events in the Edwin Lara case “Mr. Lara will remain here, will remain a prisoner here with no bail and that will allow the authorities in Oregon to collaborate with who they choose to secure his transportation if they want him there,” said Joseph Allison, assistant DA for Siskiyou County. The 31-year-old entered the not guilty plea to all California charges. Lara is also being held on a fugitive from justice hold out of Deschutes County where prosecutors charged him with murder, plus California charges of assault with a firearm and making threats to terrorize. Those charges are all for an alleged crime spree in California after Kaylee Sawyer was killed. (KOIN) - Edwin Lara, the man accused of killing Kaylee Sawyer, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in California Friday afternoon for attempted murder, kidnapping, carjacking and assault with a firearm.
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