Settlements

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.

In 2020, Anthony McClain, a father of three children, was shot and killed during a traffic stop. McClain was a passenger in a car that the Pasadena police stopped for not having a front license plate. Officer Edwin Dumaguindin asked McClain to step out of the vehicle and McClain ran away. Officers claim that McClain grabbed a gun from his waistband and looked back toward the officer before being shot twice. However, no weapon was found on McClain, but a gun was discovered across the street. The $7.5 million will go to McClain’s three children.

One case involved a high-speed police chase that led to a women’s death in 2018. Another resulted in a $175,000 payment to Lavelle Taylor, who accused Chicago Police Detective James O’Brien of framing him for a 1996 murder that was actually committed by Taylor’s brother.

In 2019, Elijah McClain was approached by police after they received a call that McClain “looked sketchy.” During the confrontation with police, McClain was put into a chokehold and paramedics injected McClain with ketamine, a powerful sedative, which resulted him going into cardiac arrest. In the following days, McClain was put on life support and then died. McClain was unarmed.

In addition to accepting the settlement funds, Walter Wallace’s family included a list of policy change demands, which were accepted in the legally binding settlement. These demands include that the City of Philadelphia purchase tasers for all patrol officers, that all officers be required to wear tasers while they are in uniform, and that the city provide necessary training to ensure that officers can safely operate tasers.

Danville contracts with the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office to provide police services. Officer Andrew Hall was convicted in October of 2021 of felony assault with a firearm in Laudemer Arboleda’s death. This was the first guilty verdict of felony assault by an officer in Contra Costa County, a county just east of San Francisco. Hall faces up to 17 years in prison.

Police arrested Al Copeland, a 64-year-old Black man, on the belief he was slumped in his car and intoxicated.

Copeland was arrested and taken to a holding cell. During his detainment, Copeland lost his balance and banged his head on the wall. It was not until five hours into his detainment that officers realized Copeland’s health was in danger, he was then sent to a hospital. Police claimed that they smelled alcohol on him, but Copeland contends that he has not had a drink since 1995. Doctors at the hospital confirmed that no alcohol or drugs were in Copeland’s system that night. Despite an internal investigation into the incident, no disciplinary actions have been taken.

Elon Wilson, now 27 years old, was pulled over and arrested by then-officer Jonathan Freitag in April of 2018. Freitag found a large quantity of oxycodone and two handguns in the car. Wilson claimed that these items were not his. Wilson was fired from the fire department, faced a ten-year minimum sentence, pled guilty, and sentenced to three years and one month in July of 2019. Internal investigations into Freitag’s traffic stops showed that he made a number of “pretextual” traffic stops, where an officer uses a false reason to pull someone over and search or arrest them. No criminal charges were filed against Freitag. In April of 2020, Freitag was arrested after crashing his car into another vehicle while under the influence and fleeing the scene. That case is pending. Wilson was released from prison after serving 21 months of his sentence.