SALT LAKE CITY — After reaching a settlement with Salt Lake City after her son was shot and wounded by police two years ago, Golda Barton reflects on the events that lead to this moment.
Her son, Linden Cameron, who was 13 at the time wasshot while running from officers two years ago when he experienced a mental health crisis.
After suing the department in November 2021, the lawsuit was settled Tuesday. But that doesn't mean things are finally over, but rather the beginning of something else.
"I wouldn't say it's come to an end because we've just started the beginning of the criminal proceedings," said Golda. "I mean we're definitely a little, you know, as much resolve as we can be, right now with what's been going on and what continues to go on. But yeah, that's kind of where we're at."
When asked how her son feels about the event, she says it's something that's constantly on his mind. Something that she's tried her hardest to do the opposite.
"I try to stay as busy as possible and just try to pray a lot for him and pray a lot for myself that I'm able to, keep on keeping and getting better every day," she said. "That's, that's how we've been doing.
One thing she would want to say to the officers from that night is that she forgives them.
"It's too heavy to hold the hate because I'm not the person that is the judge because only God can judge them," she said. "I have to let it go and try to pray that it's God's will be done and that's, that's how I handle it."
With the settlement itself, Golda said it was more to help Linden more than any material reparation for what her and her family has had to go for the past two years.
"We did it for Linden, we needed this to end," she said. "We can't keep Linden in this situation because he's getting worse and worse."
She also said that it seemed as though the city wouldn't proceed the criminal case unless they "got their way" with the settlement first.
"I would have loved to be able to see it take to trial and help this nation try to overcome police brutality," she said. "But for my son and myself, we just needed it to be done."
As far as the criminal case is concerned, her attorney Nathan Morris says they're still waiting for the criminal charges to be announced by Sim Gill and the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office.
"We've waited for a long time, the family's waited a long time," Nathan said. "The next step is trying to make sure that everybody is held accountable."
"Holding [the officer] accountable and those who make mistakes accountable does more than any training could ever do," he said.
"I would never have imagined how bad it could be, because it gets pretty bad out there and people of color have had to deal with it for many decades," said Golda. "I don't think I would have ever known had my dad not have been shot nine months prior and then killed."
"It's just disheartening, to think people can act like that," she said.
