Settlements

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.

Taylor alleged that Officer Matthew Felitto had kicked him multiple times in the head while he was restrained in the back of Felitto’s police van. After body camera footage was taken from officers, the city agreed to settle the case with Taylor for $150,000.

The civil case, filed following her arrest in June 2020, alleged that Loveland police officers used excessive force when detaining Ms. Garner, who had been accused of leaving a Walmart without paying for her items. Following her arrest, police officers were seen mocking her arrest and neglecting to give her medical attention for her fractured arm, dislocated shoulder, and sustained bruises from the arrest. Garner’s case is one of several recent allegations of the Loveland Department using excessive force in the last year.

Harris and Tatum are Black former officers who filed the lawsuit back in 1994, alleging that Worcester used discriminatory practices when promoting officers within the department, favoring the interests of White officers over minority officers. Both Black officers had passed the sergeant’s exam in the early 1990s but were passed over for promotions. After almost three decades of litigation, the city agreed to pay $1.5 million, which includes retirement payment for Tatum. Harris passed away before the case was settled.

The lawsuit alleged that Harvel fatally shot Roque in September 2017 when responding to a 911 call where Roque was having a mental health crisis. The Austin City Council reached a settlement of $2.25 million with the Roque family after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5^th Circuit affirmed Harvel did not qualify for immunity for the second and third shot he fired at Roque.

Jacob Bauer, a 38-year-old man struggling with mental illness, died on August 1, 2018, after being detained by Pleasanton police officers outside a grocery store. During the interaction, Bauer began resisting, which led officers to handcuff him, tase him, and beat him with their hands and batons. The settlement reached by the city and Bauer’s parents stipulates that the officers involved admit no fault or liability for Bauer’s death, and that the lawsuit be permanently closed in exchange for $5.9 million and a private meeting with Department leadership.

The lawsuit was filed following the fatal shooting of Daverion Kinard, who was shot by Officer Johnny Tuitavake after a foot pursuit in February 2021. After the Kinard family lawsuit was settled, another suit was filed in August 2021 against the same officer, alleging that he had used excessive force on Juan Gonzalez during an altercation in October 2020. Gonzalez’s lawsuit is currently in litigation.

Following their arrests at the Capitol building during a protest against felon disenfranchisement, five protestors sued Iowa Department of Public Safety Commissioner Stephan Bayens, alleging that banning them from the Capitol grounds was a violation of their First Amendment rights. The lawsuit was settled after a US District Court judge issued an order preventing the enforcement of the ban. The protesters' bans were lifted, they received $70,000, and the Iowa Department of Public Safety agreed to train its officers assigned to the Capitol on First Amendment rights of protestors.

Goode’s family claims that his death was caused by police officers when they tased him, tied him with restraints, and put him on his stomach on a stretcher, where he suffocated to death because of the pressure on his lungs. The city announced in July that they had reached an undisclosed agreement with Troy Goode’s family.

Members of the Hispanic National Law Enforcement Association and the United Black Police Officers Association filed a lawsuit against Prince George’s County Police Department alleging that the department does not properly handle allegations of discrimination or misconduct by White officers. The allegations detail several instances of racism towards community members and fellow officers. The agreement requires the department to implement changes to disciplinary procedures and equal employment opportunity policies.

The lawsuit alleged that police officers used excessive force when arresting Marquez Smart, a 23-year-old African American man, in 2012. In 2020, after a 2018 ruling dismissing the Smarts’ case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10^th Circuit found that by the time the police fatally shot Smart, he was on the ground with his arms stretched out. The City of Wichita agreed to settle the case for $900,000 to prevent the suit from going to federal court.

Pesoa was arrested in Aspen Hill, Maryland in 2019. During the arrest, Officer Kevin Moris kneed Pesoa in the back of his head and neck after he was already restrained. Pesoa filed his lawsuit in 2020, alleging that he suffered a concussion and severe bleeding as a result of the knee to his head. After video evidence was presented, the Department agreed to settle the case.

The lawsuit alleged that Officer Jarom Allred pulled over Donna Miller, a 62-year-old African American woman, for not having valid insurance and, after proving that she did, saying he suspected Miller was intoxicated. Miller was held at the police station for three hours, during which time her car was searched, and was forced to take several sobriety tests, despite all tests, including blood tests for eight different substances, coming back negative. The city nonetheless charged her with DUI, suspending her license, and forcing her to pay to have her license reinstated after all charges were dropped. Following her 2018 arrest, she filed a lawsuit for the racial bias she experienced, and the city settled the case for $152,000.

Arreola died in 2017 shortly after a struggle with police officers who he had called to check on his mother. A police officer allegedly sat on Arreola for over two minutes while he said he couldn’t breathe 16 times. The lawsuit alleged that Arreola went into cardiac arrest following brain damage he endured from the force the officers used when restraining him. In July 2021, the Columbus City Council decided to settle before trial for $500,000. 

The Portland City Council agreed unanimously to a $250,000 settlement. Bruders, who has faced other claims of wrongful behavior, will be partially responsible for a total of about $800,000 being paid to his victims. The city has paid other settlements because of Bruders’ actions including his beating of Jason Cox, a man who was detained by police on suspicion of drunk driving.

This settlement was a result of a family lawsuit against the city and others. Sterling was shot and killed when officers responded to a report that there was a Black man selling CDs outside a convenience store who had brandished a gun. Sterling’s death set off national protests. In 2017, the Justice Department failed to bring federal charges against the officers and Louisiana’s attorney general said the officers would not face state charges.