The family of Las Vegas detective Justin Terry, who was killed after a metal beam crushed his vehicle while driving on U.S. Highway 95, has reached a settlement in his wrongful death case, court records show.

Judge Kathleen Delaney announced the global settlement in court Monday, ending the 3½-year legal saga between Terry’s family and Western States, Las Vegas Paving Corp. and D.H. Charles Engineering, Inc.

“I personally always believe that if the parties themselves can participate in and find a solution, it has to be, in most cases, I think, better than leaving it to those individuals, had we selected the 12 and the eight who would deliberate to try to figure that out and work that out,” Delaney said.

Terry, 45, was following a Kenworth tractor-trailer loaded with a backhoe loader in June 2022 as the vehicles drove through the Centennial Bowl project near the intersection of U.S. Highway 95 and the 215 beltway in northwest Las Vegas.

The project included building overpasses over the southbound lanes of U.S. Highway 95.

The backhoe loader struck the beam, causing it to fall and crush Terry’s vehicle. Terry, a 20-year veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department, died at the scene.

The lawsuit, filed in February 2023, had accused Western States Contracting and Las Vegas Paving of negligence. The complaint stated that the tractor-trailer was driving with an oversized load while Las Vegas Paving was responsible for placing the beam.

The complaint also accused Western States Contracting of negligent hiring and training.

While the terms of Monday’s settlement were not disclosed, D.H. Charles Engineering had agreed to pay more than $4.5 million from an insurance policy to Terry’s family, according to court documents filed in September.

Contact Devan Patel at dpatel@reviewjournal.com.