Settlements

In September 2020, Andrea Churna called 911, telling them that she was scared that a stalker was trying to kill her. When officers arrived at the scene, they believed Churna may have been experiencing mental health issues. Officers demanded Churna to follow their instructions: dropping to the ground with her hands on her head. Churna complied with officers’ demands, but officers continued to fire warning shots at Churna. At some point, she was shot by Officer Daniel Mendoza while face down on the ground and unarmed. The medical examiner would later recover six rifle bullets from her body and ruled her death as a homicide.  

In March 2021, McKizzie, who was 17 years old at the time, was working out at a gym and went outside after hearing loud noises. He was stopped, shoved aggressively, and punched by Officer William Gregory. The other officers grabbed McKizzie by his hoodie and pulled on him, and then pinned him to the ground until he was handcuffed. Officers then took him to a local detention center and later placed him in an ambulance, with two sets of handcuffs, so he could get to a hospital. He was later taken back to the detention center and never charged. This incident was recorded by the officers’ body cameras and also by a civilian, and an internal affairs investigation was launched soon after.

The lawsuits resulted from incidents where the U.S. Park Police and other federal and local law enforcement violently forced hundreds of protestors to disperse using chemical irritants, rubber bullets, smoke bombs, and batons, during a Black Lives Matter and racial justice demonstration. The Biden Administration has agreed to implement several new policies, including a policy that states that demonstration permits cannot be revoked by the Park Police unless the protestors are presenting a danger to public safety.

In June 2020, a dozen injured activists filed a civil suit claiming that the Denver Police Department (DPD) used excessive force and unnecessary acts of violence against them during a protest against police brutality and racial injustice. This led a federal judge to issue a temporary injunction barring the DPD from using tear gas, plastic bullets, flash-bang grenades and other "less-than-lethal" force unless approved by a senior officer in response to specific acts of violence. After a three-week trial, a jury ruled in favor of the activists, asserting that the DPD were improperly trained in response tactics. The lawsuit notes that while Denver had previously settled civil complaints due to police violence during protests responding to George Floyd’s murder, this was the first in the nation to go to trial.

In March 2017, Clarice Hardy filed a report with the Nome Police Department claiming that she had been raped . Hardy filed the complaint with The Department took more than a year to investigate and a year and a half later, the assailant had not been charged. Hardy filed a suit and was represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska (ACLU - AK) in her case, reaching the settlement and receiving an apology from the department. Hardy believes that her case was just one of many sexual assault reports by Alaskan Native women that were backlogged by the Nome Police Department.

In March 2020, 33-year-old Manuel Ellis was stopped by Tacoma police officers while he was walking home from a convenience store with a box of doughnuts and a bottle of water. Witnesses testified that the officers attacked without provocation. The three officers involved held Ellis to the ground on his chest by kneeling, despite Ellis expressing that he could not breathe. Two Pierce County sheriffs responded to the scene and assisted in handcuffing and hogtieing Ellis. In September 2021, Ellis’ family filed a federal lawsuit over his death and a settlement was agreed upon the following March.

Salas-Sanchez, 22-years-old at the time of his death, was shot and killed by officer Mando Kenneth Gomez, who was acquitted of manslaughter charges in 2019. The responding officers claimed that Salas-Sanchez was holding a box cutter when he lunged at officers, but Salas-Sanchez was holding a brake pad. Lawyers for the Salas-Sanchez family disputed the officers’ versions of events, pointing out that the medical examiner’s report showed that Salas-Sanchez was shot three times in the back, indicating that he was running away from the officers.

In October 2017, an alleged altercation broke out outside of ZAR Nightclub. Officers claim that Redrick was arguing with a group of men, eventually pointing a loaded firearm at them which caused alarm. Turnure then approached Redrick and shot him several times. Pruiett then allegedly grabbed the gun and shot at Turnure, resulting in Turnure shooting Pruiett several times. However, Priuett claims that he and his brother were getting something to eat when someone picked a fight with them, resulting in Redrick’s self-defense. Pruiett was acquitted for a felonious charge of assault and Redrick obtained a misdemeanor for inducing panic. Turnure was cleared of charges, and the brothers reached a settlement. 

Minneapolis Police Department officers fired rubber bullets at protesters without warning during a protest in 2020 in Minneapolis, with one bullet shooting out the eye of Soren Stevenson, who subsequently sued the department. He bled for months and suffered permanent damage. Stevenson accepted the $2.4 million settlement in February 2022.

In May 2020, Youssef Amghar, a Marine veteran, was protesting in Denver when the police shot pepper balls and threw tear gas canisters at them. They sued the city along with other protesters, and nearly two years later, Denver City Council agreed to settle their portion of the case for $250,000. The day before Amghar was injured, Megan Matthews was at a protest when an officer fired a rubber bullet at her, resulting in two surgeries to repair her various injuries to her head. The city settled her case for $575,000 in February 2022.

Atlanta police officers stopped Goldring and accused her of jaywalking in October 2015, an interaction that led officers to arrest her, allegedly while using an anti-trans slur, and accused her of trafficking cocaine in a stress ball. Although Goldring’s lawyer asserts that the officer’s tests came back negative for cocaine, Goldring was charged with cocaine trafficking and spent six months in a male jail where she was assaulted. Goldring was released and had charges dismissed after the George Bureau of Investigation ran tests which came back negative. A federal jury required Atlanta to pay Goldring $1.5 million.

Marcus Deon Smith was homeless and asked officers to take him to the hospital. While waiting for EMTs to arrive, eight officers threw Smith to the ground and “hogtied him” – restraining both his arms and legs and then binding them together. Smith was unable to breathe, cried out for help, and died shortly after. Smith’s family filed a lawsuit, leading to the $2.57 million settlement. City records later revealed that seven of the eight officers involved in Smith’s case would later receive merit pay increases.

Officers attempted to question Bailey in 2019 about an alleged robbery and shot him in the back as he ran away. He died as a result of those gunshots. Despite agreeing to the settlement resulting from a lawsuit brought by Bailey’s parents, the police department maintains that the settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing.

In February 2016, Officer Gregg Bigda suspected teenagers of stealing an unmarked police car, and along with other officers, he arrested them. A video captured by a reporter shows 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 brought two civil cases. One case was settled for an undisclosed sum on February 3, 2022 while the other case is still pending. As of February 2022, Bidga was on paid leave due to the investigation. 

The ACLU-MN originally brought the case as a result of journalists being attacked and arrested by MSP officers during the racial justice in 2020 and 2021, that arose from the murder of George Floyd. The $825,000 settlement and a permanent injunction by a federal judge will prevent MSP officers from arresting or threatening to arrest journalists, in addition to preventing MSP officers from seizing recording equipment, telling journalists to disperse, and using chemical agents against journalists. The settlement also requires officers to wear body cameras, prominently display their name and badge number, and participate in training on media treatment and First Amendment rights. Lasty, the settlement requires the deployment of a media ombudsman and liaison during future civil unrest.

Officers responded to a call alleging Dacari Spiers was engaging in domestic violence towards his girlfriend. While officers found no evidence of any attack, they beat Spiers with a baton and broke . The officers involved faced criminal charges for their 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. One of the officers involved, Terrance 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 alleges that he faced workplace discrimination and harassment for being gay. His 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. 

In May 2020, Zayer attended a protest in Brooklyn where she was shoved to the ground by NYPD Officer Vincent D’Andraia and subsequently hospitalized. She experienced a concussion and a seizure, among other serious injuries. A video of the incident went viral online, and Zayer filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of New York in December 2020. 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 personally contributed $3,000. In addition, D’Andraia faces a criminal charge of misdemeanor assault as a result of the encounter.

In August 2019, then-Officer Shawn Jenkins met a 17-year-old who he mentored through a youth program and brought him to his house. Jenkins subsequently threatened the teenager with a stun gun and sexually assaulted him. The victim sued in November 2020, and a settlement was reached in January 2022 for an undisclosed amount. As of January 28, 2022, criminal charges against Jenkins remained pending, and he was fired from the department following the investigation.

Michael Acker attended a demonstration in Denver reacting to the murder of George Floyd when Acker was shot in the eye with a foam projectile by a Denver officer. After needing stitches, Acker was left with vision problems and filed a lawsuit in October 2020. 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 victims by planting evidence, and many victims served time after being convicted. Not including this $195,000 settlement, Baltimore has spent over $13 million compensating victims of GTTF as of January 2022.

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

In June 2020, Joel Alejo was sleeping in his family’s backyard in Palo Alto when an officer, Agent Nick Enberg, ordered his police dog to bite Alejo during the police’s search 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 2022, more than two years after the incident. This was the fifth police misconduct lawsuit that Palo Alto settled between February 2016 and January 2022. Including Alejo’s case, these lawsuits have cost the City $1,282,500.

Might be worth including from the article that: "It’s the fifth lawsuit related to police misconduct that Palo Alto has settled since February 2016, amounting to $1,282,500 including the Alejo case."

Officers arrived at Minjares’ house after an argument with his adult daughter where he asked her to leave in September 2019, and after refusing to provide officers with his ID, he says they attacked and arrested him for suspicion of resisting arrest. The prosecutor declined to file charges against Minjares. Minjares filed a lawsuit shortly after the incident which was settled for $180,000 in .

An officer pulled Brennan over for failing to dim the high lights in his car while driving. Brennan was in the process of surrendering during the traffic stop when an officer released a K-9. The trained police dog attacked Brennan, leaving him with multiple wounds, according to his lawsuit. The Town settled the suit for $325,000 in January 2022.