The family of South Carolina teen Zachary Hammond, who was fatally shot in the parking lot of a Hardee’s restaurant by a police officer last year, has settled a civil lawsuit against police and the city of Seneca for $2.15 million.

The bulk of the payout, announced in a joint press release Tuesday afternoon, will come from a state insurance fund paid into by municipalities. The remainder, $250,000, will be paid by 8,000-person Seneca, whose police force has been roiled by the case.

Hammond, 19 at the time of his death, was white, and his family’s attorneys frequently suggested the case would have attracted more national attention had he been African-American, like the deceased civilians in other high-profile police shootings. The claim gained press coverage.

The incident began when police attempted to arrest Hammond’s passenger for selling drugs. They recovered 10 grams of marijuana after Hammond was shot and charged the woman. Authorities also later claimed a small amount of cocaine was found on Hammond's body – though his family says it may have been planted.

In October, local elected prosecutor Chrissy Adams chose not to charge the officer who shot Hammond twice at point-blank range through an open car window, saying a "careful consideration of the facts" and "an extensive review of all applicable law" revealed no crime had been committed.

Adams' decision synced with the release of a long-withheld dashcam video that showed Lt. Mark Tiller of the Seneca Police Department shooting Hammond after he attempted to drive off.

Tiller pulled over Hammond’s car and had approached with his gun drawn, appearing to shout, “Hands up, put em' up! Stop! Stop! Stop! I will shoot your f---ing ass” before pulling the trigger. Tiller and his department said he feared Hammond would run him over as he drove away.

The dashcam video does not appear to show Tiller in the direct path of the vehicle.

“We would not have reached this settlement without the dashcam video,” Hammond family attorney Eric Bland says. “I think the public smelled through what they were selling.”

The Seneca Police Department did not respond to a request for comment. A public relations firm hired to deal with the deluge of press coverage no longer is retained, a representative of the firm says.

Bland said two significant factors led to the settlement, which heads off a jury trial in the civil case. The judge presiding over the case, he says, ordered officials to turn over hundreds of communications with the public relations firm. And Tiller indicated he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination in a deposition, which could be viewed in a negative light by a jury, Bland says.

Tiller's attorney, John Mussetto, recently revealed in court papers there is an ongoing federal grand jury investigation into the Hammond shooting.

Mussetto released a statement on the settlement, saying: "Lieutenant Mark Tiller is pleased that a settlement was reached in this case. The past few months have been very trying for the City of Seneca, Lieutenant Mark Tiller and the Hammond family. The settlement will hopefully allow everyone to begin the healing process and close a chapter that has been difficult for all parties involved."

Though slow to gain national attention, Hammond's death has helped inspired reform efforts in South Carolina.

The state's Greenville Police Department recently banned officers from shooting into cars unless there is an “imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to the officer or another person,” and the officer has “exhausted all means possible to remove themselves from the path of the vehicle.”

And a South Carolina Senate panel this month approved a bill directly inspired by the Hammond case that would require the release of police dashcam videos under the state's Freedom of Information Act following shootings, unless a judge rules otherwise.

It's unclear if Lt. Tiller will return to work if he's cleared by a federal grand jury. Bland says it may be possible for him to face state charges when Adams, who is not seeking re-election as prosecutor, is replaced.

In justifying the non-prosecution of Tiller, Adams addressed Hammond's alleged past misdeeds and text messages. His body, she wrote, tested positive for recent cocaine use. But Bland says none of that matters.

“You can’t find drugs in the car after the fact and say that justifies the shooting," Bland says. "You cant go shooting and killing people, especially unarmed teenagers, over $60 worth of pot.”