RICHMOND — The police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man during a brief scuffle in 2014 has retired from the agency but will continue to collect half of his final salary tax-free for the remainder of his life.

Officer Wallace Jensen, 33, who worked at the police department for eight years, received industrial disability retirement, effective this April, said police Chief Allwyn Brown.

Jensen stands to earn $70,700 annually from the disability retirement, according to CalPERS, and will be eligible for cost of living increases.

Only police and firefighters are eligible for industrial disability retirement, which must be signed off by a doctor, according to Kim Greer, a risk assessment manager for the city. Recipients can begin collecting payment the first day they are no longer employed. Sworn personnel can also qualify for a cash payment from the city for their injury.

Brown would not specify the nature of Jensen’s disability.

On Sept. 14, 2014, Jensen responded to a nuisance call at a local liquor store, tried to apprehend a young, intoxicated man, scuffled with him when he resisted arrest and fired his gun three times, striking the 24-year-old man in his chest. Jensen told investigators that the man, Richard “Pedie” Perez, was reaching for his gun, and fearing for his own safety, he shot him. But several eyewitnesses have disputed the officer’s version, saying the young man was only trying to get away.

Several phone calls and an email to Jensen have not been answered.

In February, the city settled with the Perez family, paying $850,000 without acknowledging responsibility for his death. An independent investigation authorized by the city cleared Jensen of wrongdoing, as did a criminal probe by the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office.

Despite that, the shooting remains controversial, fueled in part by the Perez family and their supporters, who insist that the officer be held criminally liable. The﻿ Perez family has continued to lobby the Richmond Police Department and the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office to release their investigative findings, including a copy of the police report of their son’s shooting and a transcript of the 911 phone call Perez made minutes before being shot, which they have never received.

“That’s one of the reasons we settled because we wanted the information to be made public,” said Rick Perez, Pedie’s father. “For the most part, it hasn’t been.”

Deputy District Attorney Barry Grove said there is no law requiring agencies to provide police reports to families of victims.

In February, the City Council directed the Richmond Police Commission to investigate the shooting, although this has not yet been done because the commission does not have a police investigator, after the previous one abruptly resigned.

And earlier this month, Contra Costa District Attorney Mark Peterson issued a rare, seven-page report explaining the course of the investigation, in which he maintained that the case was carefully reviewed and that police officers are not given preferential treatment in criminal investigations.

“Our office is willing to file and able to file criminal charges against police officers when it is appropriate to do so,” Peterson wrote, adding that he prosecuted three officers in 2014 who pleaded guilty to felony charges, one for use of lethal force, one for stealing naked photos from someone’s phone and one for a burglary. All three are no longer employed in law enforcement.

Contact Karina Ioffee at 510-262-2726 or kioffee@bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow her @Twitter.com/kioffee.