The California Highway Patrol has agreed to pay $7 million to end a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed after a Sacramento man was shot to death by a CHP officer. The settlement came two months before the case was set to go to trial.

Thirty-one-year-old Daniel Shaham was killed on June 4, 2016, after officers deemed him to be a “threat” during a traffic stop that took place on an I-5 overpass. Police arrived at the scene after they were called by onlookers who believed Shaham may have been trying to commit suicide by jumping the overpass.

Dashcam footage of the altercation shows Shaham getting out of his vehicle after then-CHP Officer Paul Shadwell approached the former Sacramento State student. Shaham can be seen on the footage walking toward the back of his vehicle with what appears to be a knife in his hand. The officer who already had his gun drawn continued his approach toward Shaham, and then subsequently fired four rounds from his gun, killing Shaham at the scene.

In August 2017, the Siskiyou County District Attorney’s office ruled that the shooting was justified and that Shaham posed a threat to the officer.

During a deposition, Shadwell told investigators that “Shaham looked at him ‘with a thousand-mile stare like he was looking right through me ... like somebody who might have mental problems.”

The family attorney Michael Haddad disputed the DA’s 2017 conclusion. In a pretrial statement Haddad explained, “Suddenly, and without warning, Officer Shadwell fired four consecutive shots at Mr. Shaham, hitting him twice in the chest, in the side of his right leg, and in his back,” adding “Officer Shadwell kept on shooting even as he watched Mr. Shaham fall — he admits he lowered his aim to continue shooting at Mr. Shaham as he went down. That means that in the moment, Officer Shadwell correctly perceived that Mr. Shaham was turning away and falling to the ground, but he adjusted his aim downward and kept shooting anyway.”

Family members later reveal that Shaham suffered from a mental health illness, Schizoaffective Disorder, and argued that the shooting was not justified and that Shaham’s action did not merit the fatal shots fired by the officer. Haddad’s pretrial statement maintained that CHP training states “officers are only supposed to point their gun directly at a person if deadly force would be justified.” Haddam adds, “Officer Shadwell admitted that because Mr. Shaham did not pose an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury to Officer Shadwell at that time, he was not justified to use deadly force.”

The family’s wrongful death lawsuit was set to focus on the jarring and graphic dashcam footage that shows the shooting unfolding. Court documents also show that Shadwell had been involved in two other “highly questionable shootings.” The family’s lawsuit maintained that Shaham did not pose a threat to the officer as he was roughly 12-15 feet away from the officer with a vehicle standing in the way of both men.

The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of Shaham’s mother, Sacramento physician Denise Smart, is one of a string of settlements involving CHP officers. It is also one of the largest settlements in recent times.

Last May, CHP agreed to a $3.95 million settlement to end a lawsuit in which a man sued for emotional trauma after an Amador County officer shot him with his service weapon because the man had been involved with the officer's wife.

In 2021, CHP paid $2.5 million to end a lawsuit brought forward by Officer Jay Brome. Brome accused the agency of bullying and discrimination because he was gay.