Settlements

On December 23, 2023, Officer Jonathan Murphy stopped the vehicle Mael was driving because it was reported stolen. Body camera footage shows Murphy attempting to pull Mael from the vehicle and striking him with a closed fist. After Murphy released his grip, Mael drove away, prompting a pursuit. Murphy radioed to say that Mael had struck him with the vehicle; however, no evidence substantiates that claim. After officers again apprehended Mael, Murphy allegedly deployed a Taser, used pepper spray, and repeatedly struck him in the head while Mael attempted to shield himself. Mael alleged that the beating resulted in permanent brain damage. As of December 2025, Murphy was serving as the Chief of Police in Diamond City, Arkansas.

On January 17, 2023, two officers approached Williams while he was sitting in his parked car and attempted to detain him after reportedly observing an open container of alcohol and marijuana inside the vehicle. Williams fled on foot, and officers deployed their Tasers. Officers allegedly continued to shoot their Tasers after Williams told them he had heart problems, deploying the Tasers at least three times during the encounter. Williams was no longer breathing by the time officers placed him in handcuffs, and he was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The Wake County District Attorney in Raleigh determined that the officers’ actions did not violate state law and declined to file criminal charges against them.

On October 7, 2023, Kerr was sleeping in his parked vehicle when officers Jonathan Murphy, Lloyd Willis, and Sean Neal approached him, pulled him from the vehicle, and forced him to the ground. Body camera footage shows Neal deploying a Taser and Murphy pinning Kerr on his stomach and handcuffing him. When Kerr repeatedly screamed that he could not breathe, Neal pepper-sprayed him in the face. As of December 2025, no criminal charges had been brought against the officers, and Murphy was serving as the Chief of Police in Diamond City, Arkansas.

On May 19, 2024, Officer Myron Woodson responded to a call of a “dog at large” and attempted to secure Teddy, who was blind and deaf, using a catch pole for several minutes. According to body camera footage, Woodson then drew his firearm and shot Teddy twice at close range, later claiming that the dog was behaving strangely. The incident prompted public backlash, and Mayor Kevin Abrahamson resigned shortly after. The new mayor suspended Woodson and ultimately shut down the Sturgeon Police Department, opting to instead contract with the Boone County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement.

On September 22, 2023, officers responded to reports of a man walking through Craig carrying a rifle, whom they later identified as Sholes. After Sholes did not comply with orders to get on the ground, Sheriff’s Lieutenant Nate Businger allegedly accelerated an SUV directly into him. Sholes was thrown into the air and landed in a nearby ditch. After officers restrained Sholes in the ditch, they discovered that the rifle was a BB gun. Sholes’s lawsuit alleged that officers then forced him into a vehicle despite his cries of pain and transported him to jail, where his injuries were left untreated. Sholes sustained injuries including tears to his ACL and meniscus, as well as damage to his rotator cuff and bicep.

On June 9, 2023, Officer Blayne Newton was waiting in traffic when he saw the driver of a pickup truck point a firearm out the window toward a van occupied by Nelson, Fairchild, Thorns, and two others. Nelson, who was in the passenger seat of the van, fired twice in apparent self-defense before the truck drove away. Newton then pulled up next to the van and immediately opened fire, discharging sixteen rounds that hit Thorns, Fairchild, and Nelson. The wrongful death complaint stated that Nelson did not point or fire a weapon at Newton. Fairchild and Nelson died, and Thorns continues to experience post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression. Newton remained employed by the Police Department as of November 2025, and the Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney later declined to file criminal charges against him.

 On June 4, 2015, officers Tequila Thurman and Carrie Hutchinson arrested Gregg and allegedly told him that he needed to cooperate because heroin he sold had resulted in a fatal overdose. Deputy District Attorney John Copic warned that if Gregg rejected a plea offer, he could face a sentence of at least twenty years in prison. Gregg accepted the plea deal, but after serving more than five years in prison, he learned that the individual whom officers said fatally overdosed was actually alive. Gregg’s conviction was vacated in 2022, and his subsequent lawsuit alleged that the officers conspired to manufacture evidence that Gregg sold heroin leading to an overdose death.

On August 29, 2023, Officer Gregory Burns observed a silver sedan driving recklessly and initiated a pursuit on his police motorcycle. Burns then misidentified McDonald and Rossio’s silver car as the suspect’s vehicle and relayed this incorrect information to dispatch, which broadcast it to other officers. Officers attempted to deploy spike strips behind the women’s vehicle. A police car without lights or sirens activated then slammed into the side of their car, and a second police vehicle struck the front. Officers surrounded the vehicle, pointed firearms at the women, and shouted commands for them to raise their hands. McDonald and Rossio stated that they were given no notice that police were attempting to stop them and maintained that they were neither speeding nor driving evasively. 

On August 6, 2020, Porter was driving home at night with her father and three young children when they stopped along a rural road. When deputies Lisa McDowell and Dalton McCampbell pulled up with lights flashing, Porter explained that they were changing drivers and would be on their way. Body camera footage shows deputies drawing their weapons before slamming Porter to the pavement and handcuffing her. They also handcuffed and briefly detained her father. Porter alleged that deputies punched her in the head and stomach, kneeled on her back, and pulled her hair, and that she lost consciousness soon after being handcuffed. The deputies then allegedly dragged an unconscious Porter to the back of a patrol car, where she regained consciousness five minutes later. Porter was jailed overnight on suspicion of resisting arrest, but never charged. As of September 2025, it was unclear whether the deputies remained employed with the Solano County Sheriff’s Office.

Fifteen-year-old Leah Freeman disappeared on June 28, 2000, and her body was found five weeks later. McGuffin, who had been dating Freeman, was arrested in 2010 and later found guilty of manslaughter. During post-conviction proceedings in 2015, it was revealed that the Oregon State Police forensic lab had failed to disclose DNA evidence found on Freeman’s shoe that belonged to another man. McGuffin served nine years of a ten-year sentence before a judge overturned his conviction. As part of the settlement, the Oregon State Police forensic lab agreed to pay $9 million, while the City of Coquille and its police department, which led the investigation, agreed to pay $5 million.

On August 19, 2019, Milwaukee Police Department officers Seng Xiong and Lauren Marowsky pursued a vehicle linked to two home invasions and burglaries. The chase reached speeds of 110 miles per hour and ended when the suspect’s vehicle ran a red light and collided with McNutt’s car. McNutt suffered serious injuries and incurred over $500,000 in medical expenses. The pursuit violated department policy because the officers drove the wrong way on a one-way street without notifying a supervisor and failed to deactivate their lights after a supervisor ordered them to terminate the chase. Both officers underwent follow-up training on pursuits. Marowsky resigned in July 2025, while Xiong remained employed as of September 2025.

On November 19, 2022, Portland Police Bureau officers pulled over a car that they believed to be carrying suspects involved in an armed robbery. When two individuals fled on foot, Officer Christopher Sathoff fired his rifle at them, striking thirty-year-old Clark-Johnson in his back. According to the lawsuit, officers left Clark-Johnson bleeding on the ground and instructed him to crawl toward them rather than approaching him. Clark-Johnson did not receive aid from medical personnel for twenty-five minutes and was then transported to a hospital, where he died two days later. Police later determined that the vehicle had no connection to the armed robbery, and Clark-Johnson was unarmed at the time of the shooting. A grand jury cleared Sathoff of any crimes. An internal affairs investigation found that Sathoff had failed to follow the bureau’s policies, but Portland Police leadership sided with the officer, who was still employed on the force as of August 2025. 

 On April 26, 2018, Colorado Springs Police Department officers Daniel Patterson and Joshua Archer responded to a late-night disturbance at an apartment building. Melvin, who was not involved in the initial incident, arrived eighteen minutes later and attempted to lock himself inside an apartment. Patterson then ordered Melvin to turn around and put his hands behind his back. When Melvin resisted and asked why he was being detained, a struggle followed in which both officers deployed Tasers and pepper spray on him. Melvin ran from the apartment but collapsed shortly after exiting the building. He was transported to the hospital and placed in a medically induced coma, and he later died. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit dismissed charges against the officers in 2023.

On December 31, 2022, Lynch’s sister called 911 and said he had punched her and was making threats. Lynch, a twenty-seven-year-old man with a history of schizophrenia, was holding a knife when officers arrived. Officer Conner Thompson and another officer deployed a Taser on Lynch and repeatedly ordered him to drop the knife. When Lynch walked toward the officers, Thompson shot Lynch three times, killing him. In 2023, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe determined that Thompson would not face criminal charges. Thompson resigned from the Olathe Police Department in 2024 and took a position with a police department in Washington state.

On September 4, 2022, forty-one-year-old Bradley was unloading guns and camping gear from his van parked outside his family’s home. Corporal Chris Johnson and Detective Trevor Walker approached him to serve a court order related to a dispute with a neighbor. Johnson and Walker opened fire within seconds, claiming that Bradley had pulled a handgun on them. The family’s lawsuit alleged that Bradley, who was hard of hearing, was not given sufficient time or warning to recognize the officers’ presence before they began shooting. Investigators later confirmed that Bradley did not fire any shots. In March 2024, the Spokane County Prosecutor ruled that Johnson and Walker acted in self-defense and declined to file charges against them.

On November 7, 2017, seven Chicago Police Department officers executed an invalid search warrant at the wrong apartment. Inside the home, officers allegedly pointed guns at Jack and Peter Mendez, ages five and nine, as well as at their parents in the children’s presence. According to body camera footage, officers continued searching the home even after acknowledging to each other that they were in the wrong apartment. Both children had post-traumatic stress disorder following the raid. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability recommended suspensions for the officers involved, but they never served the suspensions. As a result of this incident, Governor JB Pritzker signed the Peter Mendez Act in 2019, requiring Illinois police officers to receive training on how children experience trauma and on de-escalation tactics for when children are involved.

On October 9, 2018, Chicago Police Department officers attempted to stop Aguilar and another man they saw walking in an alley because they suspected they were armed. When the men fled, one officer pursued them on foot while Detective Eric Duron followed in an unmarked squad car. After losing track of Aguilar, Duron reversed the vehicle and ran him over. Aguilar was hospitalized with serious injuries and placed in a medically induced coma for seven days. In 2020, he was declared permanently disabled. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability found that Duron operated his vehicle carelessly and failed to properly activate his body-worn camera, and recommended a ten-day suspension.

On October 9, 2022, Suffolk County Police Department officers arrested Fahmy following a domestic complaint that was later dismissed. Although she repeatedly explained to officers that, in accordance with her faith, she could not be seen without her hijab in the presence of men outside her immediate family, officers forced Fahmy to remove her hijab and left her uncovered for approximately nine hours. Police repeatedly brought her before male officers and ignored her requests that she be allowed to cover herself. Officers also conducted a strip search in the presence of a male officer and took her photograph without her hijab, despite her objections. Fahmy filed a lawsuit in January 2024 alleging that the Police Department violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and Article I, Section 3 of the New York State Constitution. The suit also challenged a department policy that required people to remove religious head coverings for booking photographs. The lawsuit was settled before judgment.

On September 1, 1994, a passenger in a car driving by fired several gunshots at a group of people standing outside an apartment building, killing Amy Merkes and Jorge Rodriguez and injuring Jacqueline Grande. Chicago Police Detective Reynaldo Guevara showed Grande and witness Kennelly Saez photos of nineteen-year-old Almodovar and seventeen-year-old William Negron, claiming they were the shooters even though no physical evidence tied Almodovar to the crime, and his alibi was verified by at least seven witnesses. Almodovar and Negron were convicted of first-degree murder, attempted murder, and aggravated battery. Almodovar spent twenty-three years in prison before his conviction was overturned, after Guevara was accused of routinely framing suspects. As of July 2025, Negron’s lawsuit against the City was still pending.

On February 9, 1982, Chicago Police Department officers Richard O’Brien and William Fahey were fatally shot during a traffic stop. The police arrested Wilson and his brother in connection with the shooting. Wilson claimed that while the brothers were in custody, Lieutenant Jon Burge and detectives under his command beat, abused, and tortured them for hours, including repeatedly electrocuting them with wires attached to their bodies. Wilson eventually falsely confessed to end the abuse, and a jury convicted the brothers of murder and armed robbery. Wilson received a certificate of innocence in 2020, after spending thirty-six years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Wilson’s brother died in prison in 2007. Burge was fired in 1993 and sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison in 2010. In March 2024, Cook County settled its portion of Wilson’s lawsuit for $17 million.

On May 24, 2024, Shone was driving through a green light when Officer Zachary Hyde ran a red light in his patrol SUV and collided with her vehicle. Shone, who was twenty-two weeks pregnant, was transported to the hospital, where she had a stillbirth due to injuries sustained in the crash. As of January 2025, Hyde was no longer employed by the city.

On March 3, 2020, Ellis was walking home from a convenience store when he was stopped by police, who said they saw him attempting to open car doors. The encounter escalated, and officers beat him and shocked him with a Taser three times. The officers also restrained him on his stomach with his hands tied behind his back while kneeling on him. During this encounter, Ellis repeatedly told officers he could not breathe. Ellis died at the scene. Officers Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins were charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter for Ellis’s death, and Officer Timothy Rankine was charged with first-degree manslaughter. A jury acquitted the officers of those charges in December 2023, and the Tacoma Police Department cleared the officers of wrongdoing in January 2024, but all three resigned. Ellis’s family also received $4 million from Pierce County as part of a separate 2022 settlement.

On June 24, 2015, officers from the Detroit Police Department were on patrol when they allegedly observed an occupant of a vehicle driven by Lorenzo Harris holding a handgun. However, no gun was ever recovered. Harris fled from the police at speeds of up to ninety-five miles per hour as he drove down a residential street where the Jackson children and others were playing outside. According to the Jackson family’s lawsuit, the police cruiser allegedly bumped Harris’s vehicle, causing Harris to lose control and hit the Jackson children, killing them. Three other children were critically injured.

Spicer was killed in a crash involving a vehicle fleeing the police. On September 2, 2020, officers with the Chicago Police Department attempted to stop a vehicle for traffic violations and initiated a pursuit after the driver refused to pull over and sped away. The fleeing car struck two other vehicles, including a sedan containing Kevin Amir Spicer and his two children: ten-year-old Da’Karia and five-year-old Dhaamir. The children were transported to a hospital, where Da’Karia was pronounced dead and Dhaamir was deemed to be in critical condition.

On September 28, 2020, Ferreira was in his wheelchair while attending a Black Lives Matter protest in North Portland when Sergeant Justin Damerville allegedly attempted to pull him from his wheelchair and forcibly arrested him, wrenching his arm hard enough to lift part of the chair. Ferreira suffered soft tissue damage to his shoulder and an exacerbation of his medical condition that causes brittle bones. Ferreira reported that the injury was life-altering and resulted in his reliance on a power wheelchair. Damerville resigned from the Portland Police Bureau in 2022. Ferreira also stated that Portland Police regularly targeted him both before and after the 2020 incident. He alleged that officers assaulted him again in April 2023 as he was attempting to go home and kicked his leg, requiring surgery.