fcc - // No but it has paid well for his family ewho will be whistling all the way to the bank,this verdict has opened the door for all the ne'er-do-wells
to shout I Can't breathe every time they get arrested. //
I doubt his family while be 'whistling' ever again - but to be clear, this verdict has nothing at all to do with the financial settlement the family received.
That was greed by the city, in anticipation - correctly as it turned out - of a guilty verdict and bankruptingly large civil suit being won in civil court.
To say that the verdict led to the payment is to place facts in the wrong order - settlement first, verdict second is how it is, not as you are suggesting.