UPDATE | Bainbridge city manager expresses remorse in police shooting

Published 2:13 pm Friday, June 1, 2012

Bainbridge Island city officials issued a brief statement on Friday’s verdict in the federal civil rights lawsuit filed against the city in the shooting death of Douglas Ostling in October 2010.

A jury awarded the family a total of $1 million in damages, but found Bainbridge Police Officer Jeffrey Benkert was justified when he shot Ostling after he confronted police with an ax after officers went to Ostling’s apartment to investigate a 911 call.

“The city again wishes to extend our sympathies to the Ostling family and to state we are terribly sorry for the loss of Douglas Ostling,” Interim City Manager Morgan Smith said in a press release shortly after the verdict was announced.