Cameron Redus wrongful death trial canceled as UIW, family near finalized settlement

SAN ANTONIO – A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a University of the Incarnate Word student who was shot and killed by a campus police officer in late 2013 will not go to trial after an agreed resolution was reached in the case, court records confirmed Thursday.

The suit, filed by the family of Cameron Redus, had been scheduled for trial next Monday after years of delays and appeals in the case.

Redus, 23, was shot five times by UIW Corporal Christopher Carter in December 2013 after a physical struggle in a parking lot outside of Redus’ off-campus apartment.

Carter, a so-called “wandering officer” who had bounced between law enforcement jobs before the fatal shooting, pursued Redus’ vehicle after seeing it driving erratically along Broadway.

Redus was shot five times, including in his upper back and left eye, by Carter, who told investigators he feared for his safety after Redus grabbed his service baton and charged toward him while Carter attempted to take him into custody.

The subsequent 2014 lawsuit filed by the family of Redus reached all the way to the Texas Supreme Court after attorneys for UIW repeatedly argued that the school’s police force was entitled to governmental immunity.

A source familiar with the eight-year court battle said the final details of the settlement, financial and otherwise, will be confidential and could be ironed out within the next few days.

UIW officials had not released a formal statement on the agreed resolution as of noon Thursday.

A longtime attorney for the Redus family said via telephone Thursday morning he could not discuss the case.

A Bexar County grand jury in March 2015 declined to indict Carter.