Settlement reached in death of civil rights leader

TUSKEGEE, ALABAMA - A settlement has been reached with two companies in a blowout and wreck that killed civil rights leader Earl Shinhoster and injured two others. <br> <br> Circuit Judge Howard Bryan said terms of the settlement reached Wednesday with Ford Motor Company and Bridgestone-Firestone tires are confidential. <br> <br> The settlement comes just as a jury was to be picked in the trial of a lawsuit in Tuskegee, Alabama. <br> <br> The agreement closes the case brought against the companies by Shinhoster&#39;s widow, Ruby Shinhoster, and Samimah Azia and Ademah Hackshaw. <br> <br> Shinhoster was an official with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Atlanta. He was a passenger along with Aziz in a Ford Explorer being driven by Hackshaw when a tire blew out and the Explorer wrecked June 11, 2000, on Interstate 85 near Tuskegee. <br> <br> A settlement of the claims by Aziz and Hackshaw was reached Monday.