Settlements

In February 2016, Officer Gregg Bigda and other officers arrested a group of teenagers who were suspected of stealing an unmarked police car. A video showed Bigda yelling profanities at the teenagers and claiming he could plant drugs on them and kill them in a parking lot. Bigda was acquitted of criminal charges of excessive force and abusive interrogation following the incident, but the arrested teenagers also brought two civil cases. One case was settled for an undisclosed sum on February 3, 2022. As of February 2022, the other case was still pending and Bigda was on paid leave due to the investigation. 

It also requires that previously affected journalists be paid a total of $825,000. The ACLU-MN originally brought the case as a result of journalists being attacked and arrested by MSP officers during the racial justice protests in 2020 and 2021 following the murder of George Floyd. The $825,000 settlement and a permanent injunction by a federal judge prevent MSP officers from arresting or threatening to arrest journalists, seizing recording equipment, and telling journalists to disperse. The settlement also requires the deployment of a media ombudsman and liaison during future civil unrest. 

Officers responded to a call alleging that Spiers was engaging in domestic violence toward his girlfriend. While officers found no evidence of any attack, Officer Terrance Stangel beat Spiers with a baton and broke two of his bones. Stangel faced criminal charges for his actions, and Spiers was awarded $700,000 in court. A federal judge imposed sanctions on the City for withholding evidence in the case. The case is believed to be the first criminal trial of a police officer in San Francisco for on-the-job use of force. Stangel was charged with four different felonies: battery with serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury, and assault under color of authority. A jury later acquitted Stangel of the first three charges and failed to reach a consensus on the fourth charge, which resulted in a mistrial. 

Mannix alleged that he faced workplace discrimination and harassment for being gay. Police sergeants repeatedly made derogatory comments about Mannix’s sexual orientation, leading him to sue the department in 2018. While the City settled the suit for $225,000, it is unclear if the sergeants involved faced any punishment for their behavior.

NYPD Officer Vincent D’Andraia shoved Zayer to the ground during a protest in Brooklyn. Zayer was subsequently hospitalized, and she experienced a concussion and a seizure, among other serious injuries. A video of the incident went viral online, and Zayer filed a lawsuit. New York City agreed to pay $387,000 to settle the case in February 2022. In a rare move for police settlements in the United States, D’Andraia was required to personally contribute $3,000. In addition, D’Andraia faced a criminal charge of misdemeanor assault as a result of the encounter. 

According to Wright’s lawsuit, Provenza had a well-known reputation for using excessive force even prior to her 2017 experience with him. During the traffic stop, Provenza allegedly dragged Wright out of her car, handcuffed her, and hit her in the knee, which tore her ACL, despite Wright’s compliance with the arrest. Canaan agreed to pay Wright $160,000 in compensation in February 2022.

Howell and Evans each sustained serious injuries from beanbag rounds shot by police during the demonstrations. Howell, who suffered brain damage, received $8 million, which at the time was the highest amount ever awarded in an excessive force case involving an Austin police officer. Evans received $2 million. The immense backlash to the violent police response to the demonstrations resulted in the indictment of at least nineteen officers accused of excessive force, and it led the Austin Police Department to stop using less-lethal weapons such as beanbag rounds.

In August 2019, then-Officer Shawn Jenkins brought a seventeen-year-old boy whom he mentored through a youth program to his house. Jenkins subsequently threatened the teenager with a stun gun and sexually assaulted him. The parties reached a settlement for an undisclosed amount in January 2022. Jenkins was fired from the department following the investigation in 2019, and criminal charges against him remained pending as of January 28, 2022.

Michael Acker was attending a demonstration in Denver, Colorado, in response to the murder of George Floyd when a Denver police officer shot Acker in the eye with a foam projectile. Acker needed stiches and was left with vision problems. He filed a lawsuit in October 2020, and the City settled his case for $500,000.

In 2012, Baltimore’s Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) planted drugs on and subsequently arrested Kyle Knox and Shaune Berry. Both served two years in jail before charges were dismissed. The corrupt task force often targeted people by planting evidence, and many of those targeted served time after being convicted. Prior to this $195,000 settlement, Baltimore had already spent more than $13 million compensating victims of GTTF as of January 2022. 

After pulling Hollins over for an alleged license plate issue, Sergeant Michael Bongiovanni and Officer Robert McDonald punched him in the face and stomped on his head, even though Hollins had put his hands up as directed. Both officers were later fired and indicted for assault by a grand jury. Bongiovanni pleaded no contest to aggravated assault, and McDonald was found guilty. Hollins filed a lawsuit alleging that police leaders had ignored the officers’ pattern of excessive force and falsified reports, and the Gwinnett County Commission settled the suit for $400,000 in January 2022.

In June 2020, Joel Alejo was sleeping in his family’s backyard in Palo Alto when an officer, Nick Enberg, ordered his police dog to bite Alejo while the police were searching in the area for a kidnapping suspect. Alejo was subsequently taken to the hospital because of his injuries. In January 2022, the City settled Alejo’s case for $135,000, yet Enberg remained on the force with a police dog as of September 2021. This was the fifth police misconduct lawsuit that Palo Alto settled between February 2016 and January 2022, costing a total of $1,282,500. 

In September 2019, officers arrived at Minjares’ house following an argument in which he had asked his adult daughter to leave. Minjares said that after he refused to provide the officers with his identification, the officers attacked and arrested him for suspicion of resisting arrest. The prosecutor declined to file charges against him. Minjares filed a lawsuit shortly after the incident, which was settled for $180,000 in January 2022. 

An officer pulled Brennan over for failing to dim the high beams in his car while driving. According to the lawsuit, Brennan was in the process of surrendering during the traffic stop when an officer released a trained police dog, which attacked Brennan and left him with multiple wounds. The Town settled the suit for $325,000 in January 2022.

Batchelor and Bailey were convicted during the “Burge torture era,” named for the violent practices used under disgraced Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge to coerce individuals into confessing to crimes they often had not committed. After a review of the case, both men were exonerated in 2018. In January 2022, the City of Chicago agreed to pay each man $7 million to compensate them for the wrongful convictions.

Marrow filed a civil suit against the County in 2018, which came to a close with a $200,000 settlement in January 2022. Rose, who was fired, pleaded guilty to simple battery in 2020, and his conviction bars him from working in law enforcement again.

At the time, Brown was feeding information to the FBI about alleged corruption and abuses of incarcerated people. After discovering a cellphone in Brown’s possession, guards at the jail realized they were the target of a federal investigation and attempted to derail the probe by hiding Brown from FBI handlers. In January 2022, the County agreed to pay $1 million to compensate Brown. Additionally, ten former Sheriff’s Department officials were convicted for their roles in the cover-up.

In March 2019, Amber was pulled over by Williamson County police officers following a car chase.  It was alleged that Amber failed to dim his headlights for oncoming traffic. When two police officers apprehended him, they tased him several times, which led to his death later that night.  Amber claimed he was sick and that he could not breathe while the officers were tasing him. His family filed a wrongful death lawsuit following his death, which was settled by the city in December 2021.

In February 2019, 13 Chicago police officers, who were acting on a bad tip that a man with an illegal firearm lived in Young’s home, raided her house, and handcuffed her while she was getting ready for bed, forcing her to stand naked while they searched her home. Following the incident, Young filed a lawsuit against the city and the officers for failing to independently verify the place to be searched and for wrongfully entering her home. Young’s attorney agreed to settle the case for $2.9 million and, amid the uproar of the case, new raid policies were implemented requiring a department member who is at the rank of lieutenant or higher to be present, as well as a female department member when warrants are being served.

The plaintiffs were among many who were protesting police violence in May 2020. During the protests, the police made arrests and used excessive force, such as pepper spray, tear gas, and wooden batons, against protesters, resulting in some of the plaintiffs sustaining significant injuries. The injured protesters filed a lawsuit in July 2020, and the city reached a settlement with the 32 plaintiffs in December 2021, agreeing to pay $5.75 million to be divided among them. Additionally, the city agreed to implement a permanent injunction barring Columbus police officers from using forms of nonlethal force against nonviolent protesters.

On December 1st, 2017, Keita O’Neil was shot and killed by former officer Chris Samayoa, who was pursuing O’Neil for an alleged unarmed carjacking. After Keita’s death, Judy O’Neil filed a civil lawsuit against the city, alleging that Samayoa had used excessive force that resulted in her son’s death. Four years later, the City of San Francisco agreed to pay Judy O’Neil $2.5 million. Samayoa is currently facing charges for manslaughter, among others, for the death of Keita O’Neil.

Santa Clara officer Jordan Fachko stopped Gomez while trying to find a vehicle that was reported stolen. The situation escalated when Fachko allegedly thought Gomez was attempting to run him over, prompting Officer Fachko to shoot and wound Gomez. Following the encounter, Gomez filed a lawsuit alleging that Fachko had used excessive force and was negligent. A federal jury found that Fachko’s life was in no way threatened during the interaction and awarded Gomez $500,000.

In December 2021, city officials agreed to pay Espinosa $720,000 to settle the case.

In January 2019, during a home investigation, officer Timothy Dronek took Espinosa to the ground while handcuffed, causing Espinosa to dislocate his right hip and suffer fractures in parts of his leg. In December 2021, the City of Clovis agreed to settle the case for $720,000.

In December 2018, Yeager was visiting his girlfriend in Austin when they were robbed. When police officers arrived, the lawsuit alleges that officer Dusty Jester slammed Yeager to the ground and used a stun gun on him and then falsely arrested him. Yeager sustained several injuries, including a concussion, broken nose, and separated shoulder. He filed a lawsuit for wrongful arrest and excessive force against the city in 2019. Two years later, city officials decided to settle the case for $99,000.

In June 2017, two Seattle police officers were responding to Lyles’ 911 call to report a burglary. Officers alleged that she had staged the burglary and that she suddenly lunged at them with a knife, prompting them to fatally shoot her with her children nearby. Following her death, family members filed a lawsuit against the city, alleging that the officers had failed to use nonlethal force to disarm Lyles. After a state Court of Appeals agreed with the Lyles’ family, the city settled the case for $3.5 million.