Settlements

In 2012, Cardile was at her then-boyfriend’s home in Yonkers when they had an argument, and he called the police. The responding officers demanded Cardile produce her driver’s license. Cardile alleged that as she was walking to retrieve her license from her vehicle, four male officers pushed her to the ground without provocation, kicked her, lifted her by the throat, and threw her against the trunk of her car. The officers then took her to a holding cell. Several hours later, Cardile received treatment at a hospital for a hand fracture and arm injuries. Cardile filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in 2014 alleging that the officers used unreasonable and excessive force. Although the City denied any wrongdoing, they settled with her for $50,000. 

During the party, Ramos’ sister called 911 and asked police to remove an unwanted visitor. According to Ramos’ lawsuit, Springfield officers Matthew Rief and Herminio Rivas Jr. arrived at the party and announced their intention to arrest Ramos, even though he was not the unwanted visitor. Ramos raised his hands in surrender to the officers, but Rief proceeded to strike Ramos over the head with a steel baton and later maced him in the face. Ramos suffered a fractured skull and other injuries that required plastic surgery.

In 1992, Ricks was convicted of fatally shooting his friend Gerry Bennett in the head outside of a restaurant. During the investigation, police seized a gun that belonged to Ricks’ mother and claimed that it was the murder weapon. After the case was reopened in 2016 on request by the Innocence Clinic at University of Michigan Law School, further examination revealed that the bullets that killed Bennett did not match the ones found in Ricks’ mother’s gun. An expert working for the City testified during depositions that the original bullet analysis by the police lab had been completely wrong.

Two guardians of children who were present at the incident were also awarded $15,000 each. In January 2020, two Baltimore County police officers, S. Brennan and B. Schmidt, arrived at Mellerson’s home to arrest her daughter for disorderly conduct. Mellerson alleged that the officers were hostile and used a Taser and pepper spray. At one point during the encounter, an officer pushed Mellerson to the ground. The incident was recorded via the officers’ body-worn cameras. Mellerson initially faced charges of interfering with an arrest, obstructing and hindering, and assault, but those charges were dropped. Both the Baltimore Police Chief and County Executive condemned the actions of the officers, who were still employed by the Baltimore County Police Department as of 2022.

Green, a Black man, was driving in Tampa when he experienced a diabetic emergency and struggled to control his steering wheel. After a nearby motorist called 911, police reached Green but did not get him the immediate medical attention he needed. Instead, they handcuffed him and put him in a prone position (meaning face-down on the ground) where he struggled to breathe and later died. In addition to an undisclosed financial settlement, the Tampa Police Department agreed to make changes to its procedures on how officers handle cases where people are held in a prone position. Green’s family requested an official apology from Tampa Mayor Jane Castor because she was Tampa’s Police Chief at the time of Green’s death, but Castor refused.

Henderson agreed to pay $25,000, and Las Vegas Metropolitan agreed to pay $65,000. In 2020, Henderson Police officers pulled over Brown, who was twenty-three years old at the time, for driving without his headlights on. The officers then arrested Brown because they believed he had an outstanding felony weapons warrant in Las Vegas. However, the actual subject of the warrant was a five-foot-eleven, forty-nine-year-old white man with a bushy beard and blue eyes, and Brown is a five-foot-seven Black man. Brown spent six days in two different detention facilities before officers recognized their mistake. The $90,000 settlement is near the $100,000 maximum that Nevada law allows when suing a government entity.

Portland Police Sergeant Nicholas Goodman killed twenty-two-year-old Baker in Portland’s Union Station Plaza in 2017. Baker was experiencing a mental health crisis and holding an air rifle at the time of his killing. After multiple 911 calls reporting Baker’s behavior, Goodman joined other officers at the scene and fatally shot Baker within minutes of arriving. A federal judge denied Goodman qualified immunity from the case, which allowed the lawsuit to proceed.

Jaime Bunkholt, an Atlanta-based photographer, alleged in her federal lawsuit that an unidentified officer with the Minneapolis Police Department fired a rubber bullet that hit her in the back of the head during a 2020 protest. Bunkholt sustained both permanent and temporary injuries, including a concussion. The Minneapolis City Council agreed to settle Bunkholt’s lawsuit for $500,000.

Potter, who had a trainee with her, initially pulled over Wright for an expired tag and an illegal air freshener. After police learned that Wright had an outstanding warrant, Potter proceeded to shoot and kill him, claiming that she mistook her gun for a taser. The twenty-six-year police veteran was later sentenced to two years in prison for manslaughter. Wright’s killing occurred less than a year after an officer of the Minneapolis Police Department murdered George Floyd about ten miles away. The settlement with Wright’s family was “in exchange for a release of the City, its employees, and Kim Potter from any claims or actions stemming from Mr. Wright’s death.” The settlement also required new policies and procedures for Brooklyn Center police officers, including trainings on implicit bias, weapons confusion, de-escalation, and how to navigate mental health crises. 

As Aguirre left a one-vehicle wreck in 2013, three police officers who responded to the scene pinned him down for over five minutes and then allowed three additional minutes to pass before they rendered medical aid. The examiner ruled Aguirre’s cause of death as “positional asphyxiation” and “excited delirium” brought on by his restraint and subsequently ruled Aguirre’s death a homicide. The family originally filed suit in 2015. The settlement came in 2022, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit determined that San Antonio Police Department officers were not entitled to qualified immunity in this case. 

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law represented the marchers. The lawsuit was connected to a 2020 “march to the polls” event, where sheriff’s deputies and police officers pepper-sprayed marchers, including children and elderly people, for blocking a street without permission. Under the terms of the settlement, the Police Department and sheriff’s office did not claim any responsibility for the incident. 

On May 31, 2020, Mia Wright, Tnika Tate, Kim Woods, Ebony Wilbourn, and Javon Hill went to a mall to shop for party supplies and baby items, when officers accused them of attempting to loot a sporting goods store. Officer David Laskus falsely claimed that he saw someone with a hammer attempt to break a store window and then get back in the car with Wright and the others, even though surveillance video showed otherwise. When the group started to drive away at the direction of other officers, police used their batons to smash the car’s windows and demanded that everyone get out of the vehicle. Laskus pulled Wright out of the car by her hair and kneeled on her back and neck. Officer Patrick Dwyer, who retired in July 2020, used racist and sexist language during the incident. The City Council agreed in March 2022 to settle the lawsuit with payments totaling $1.625 million to the five individuals in the car.

Riley and ten other WPD employees signed an August 2020 letter calling for the termination of WPD Officer Aaron Dalton due to his violations of civil rights, threats against other officers, falsification of paperwork, and use of racial profanity. In October 2020, the mayor informed Riley that her position was being eliminated, which Riley’s legal counsel argued was retaliation for her whistleblowing. This settlement followed a series of other payouts by the City for incidents of police misconduct by Dalton and other officers, including a $750,000 settlement to William Cox and a $350,000 settlement to Andre Howton. The City placed Dalton on paid administrative leave for more than a year before ultimately terminating him.

The deputies fired several shots, one of which struck Brown in the back of his head and killed him. His family commissioned an independent autopsy that said police shot Brown five times, including the fatal shot to the back of his head. Brown’s family filed a $30 million civil rights lawsuit in 2021, asserting that the deputies displayed “intentional and reckless disregard” for Brown’s life. In May 2021, the county district attorney deemed the shooting “justified” and declined to prosecute the officers involved.

Gladney filed the lawsuit against Officer Tyler Ryan Timberlake in 2021, alleging that the officer used excessive force against him and falsely arrested him. Timberlake was charged with misdemeanor assault, but a grand jury found him not guilty.

Evans filed the suit in March 2022, alleging that Hersl and other officers with the GTTF planted crack cocaine on him, applied for warrants based on false allegations, and illegally arrested him following a 2012 search. Evans originally sought $1.5 million in damages in a case that was dismissed in 2020. The parties agreed to the 2022 settlement to avoid the expense and uncertainty of prolonged litigation. Hersl, one of eight GTTF members indicted on charges including racketeering, robbery, extortion, and overtime fraud, was sentenced to eighteen years in prison. As of June 2022, the City of Baltimore had paid over $14 million to settle lawsuits related to GTTF misconduct.

Jackson and Stallings were standing in a parking lot in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in May 2020 when a Minneapolis SWAT team fired 40mm plastic projectiles, which hit Stallings in the chest. The SWAT team had been driving around Minneapolis in an unmarked white cargo van and firing plastic projectiles at people who were out after a curfew imposed in the wake of protests over George Floyd’s murder by police. Stallings, thinking the people in the unmarked van were white supremacists, responded to being shot at by firing back with his pistol, but he later testified that he purposefully missed. The officers then jumped out of the van. Even though Stallings and Jackson both tried to surrender, and video shows them on their knees with their hands up, officers beat Stallings for thirty seconds and beat and tased Jackson for two minutes. Stallings, an Army veteran, was later acquitted of all charges.

Ingram’s lawsuit named Camden County, the Camden County Police Department, then-Assistant Chief of Police Orlando Cuevas, then-Police Chief John Scott Thomson, and officers Jeremy Merck, Antonio Gennetta, and Nicholas Marchiafava as defendants. The suit accused the officers of using excessive force and failing to provide necessary medical care, resulting in Ingram’s severe cervical spine injuries and permanent quadriplegia. The County agreed to a settlement in May 2022 after years of litigation and a mistrial in Camden federal court declared on March 29, 2022, when a jury became deadlocked on whether the officers were responsible for Ingram’s injuries.

Tirado had traveled to Minneapolis in May 2020 to cover the protests in response to George Floyd’s murder by police. She claimed in her lawsuit that police targeted her as she took photos outside a police precinct in south Minneapolis on May 29, 2020. She alleged that officers ignored her press credentials and fired a foam bullet at her, striking her in the face and shattering her protective goggles.

In 1997, Cooper was wrongfully convicted of armed robbery. After serving more than eight years in prison, he filed a lawsuit against the Elkhart Police Department, claiming that their police officials, including Detective Steve Rezutko, framed him and his co-defendant through “false witness statements and unduly suggestive photo lineups.” The eyewitnesses who testified at Cooper’s trial later admitted that they had been manipulated by Rezutko into implicating Cooper. DNA evidence eventually identified the shooter as a man who was convicted of murder in Michigan in 2002. In 2017, Cooper became the first Indiana man to be granted a pardon based on actual innocence. His co-defendant, Christopher Parish, was exonerated and awarded a nearly $5 million settlement in 2014.

Surrounding officers ignored Drake’s request for help after she was shot. The lawsuit asserted that the officers’ actions violated her First Amendment right to protected speech and to peaceful assembly, and her Fourth Amendment right to be free from excessive force. The City of Austin agreed to pay an $850,000 settlement to Drake, bringing the City’s total settlements with demonstrators against police misconduct to $13.95 million as of May 2022, all paid by taxpayers.

Williams, who was seventeen at the time, was wrongfully arrested, dragged to the ground, and zip-tied during the protest after being falsely accused of assaulting a police officer. Body camera footage later showed that she did not assault the officer, and Williams was never charged with a crime. The Police Department conducted an internal investigation into the arresting officer’s actions, though the results were not made public. The officer involved remained employed by the department as of May 2022. The settlement was reached out of court without a legal complaint or lawsuit being filed, after the civil rights group Emancipate NC notified the City of their intent to sue.

Taylor was seventeen when he was arrested and wrongfully convicted of a 1992 double murder. He said he was coerced into confessing to crimes he did not commit. At the time of the killings, Taylor was already in police custody after being arrested for causing a disturbance. His attorneys said police officers hid that evidence, which would have exonerated him. Taylor spent more than twenty years in prison before he was released in 2013 after his conviction was overturned.

Arevalo, who was twenty-three years old at the time, was standing outside of Happy Donuts when Agent Thomas DeStefano asked him if he was on probation. Arevalo tried to walk away from DeStefano, but the agent followed him and tried to pin Arevalo’s arm behind his back to detain him, before flipping Arevalo to the ground. Arevalo sued the City of Palo Alto in November 2019, accusing the Police Department of violating his civil rights by violently attacking and falsely arresting him. He sought $3.85 million for “personal injury, emotional distress, property damage, other damages, and the like,” but settled with the City for $150,000.

Krauss claimed he did not recognize Colson, who was in plain clothes, and perceived him as a threat. In 2022, Colson’s family settled a civil lawsuit with Prince George’s County, Maryland, for $400,000, the maximum amount allowed under the law. Despite the financial settlement, Colson’s family criticized prosecutors for failing to indict Krauss, who was retired by 2022. Angela Alsobrooks, the state’s attorney at the time of the incident, defended the investigation and said that the evidence did not support an indictment.