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A police car is submerged in New Orleans East after Hurricane Katrina hit the area.

Rick Wilking / Reuters

New Orleans has agreed to pay $13.3 million to settle civil rights lawsuits stemming from multiple fatal police shootings and other alleged abuses in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The city settled with 17 plaintiffs that included families of people killed or injured by police, said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.

“We are going to change as a people and we are going to change as a city because we choose to,” Landrieu said at a news conference.

The cases included the New Orleans police shooting of two unarmed civilians who were trying to cross the Danziger Bridge to get help. In April, five former New Orleans police officers pleaded guilty in the shootings.

In total, 20 police officers were charged by the US Department of Justice after the agency launched a civil rights investigation.

At least 1,245 people died in the hurricane and subsequent floods in 2005, decimating the city while stranding thousands of residents.

LINK: New Orleans Officers Plead Guilty In Bridge Shootings After Katrina

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