Settlements

The settlement was among several paid out by Denver over allegations of police misconduct during the summer of 2020.

The original complaint filed against police officers and the City of Scottsdale sought at least $300,000 in damages. The lawsuit alleged that Officer Brian Steel and Officer Nicolas Fay “failed to take basic investigation steps in connection with establishing reasonable suspicion and probable cause,” and that they wrongfully arrested Garcia for a hit-and-run on a night when her car remained parked while she and her boyfriend went to clubs with friends. Garcia alleged that the officers repeatedly asserted that she was lying about her alibi instead of consulting readily available video and receipt-based evidence.

The lawsuit alleged that Kroll’s actions as a de facto policymaker led police to use excessive force against demonstrators in the protests that followed the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis Police Department officer. Under the terms of the settlement, Kroll also agreed that he would not serve on the Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training, and that he would testify in any trials related to the suit.

In 2017, when Pope was fourteen years old, officers were called to his home for a reported domestic disturbance. According to the lawsuit, Chauvin rushed Pope and struck him multiple times on the head with a large flashlight, then pinned him to the floor with his knee—the same tactic Chauvin used on George Floyd. Chauvin then held Pope in the prone position while handcuffed for fifteen minutes. None of the other responding officers intervened.

Hundreds of current and former police officers would each receive at least $45,000. The decade-old lawsuit involved officers from Boston, Brockton, Lawrence, Lowell, Methuen, Springfield, and Worcester, along with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of 343 people, alleged that the officers’ response left protesters with physical injuries that, in some cases, required medical treatment or hospitalization, as well as emotional anguish. The lawsuit was filed by the Legal Defense Fund, the Abolitionist Law Center, and Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feinberg, and Lin LLP. The Legal Defense Fund released a statement explaining that the City also agreed to disengage from the federal 1033 program, which arms state and local law enforcement with military weapons.

The settlement resolved a 2018 federal lawsuit filed by Shirley Johnson after her father, Elbert Davis Sr., was killed and her mother, Phosa Cain, was seriously injured when their vehicle was struck by two men fleeing the police. The high-speed police chase occurred after officers claimed that they witnessed a suspected drug transaction involving Umar Burley and Brent Matthews. However, police later admitted that they had planted heroin inside the car, and Burley and Matthews had their convictions vacated in 2017 after serving multiple years in prison. As of March 2023, Baltimore had paid a total of $22.2 million to settle nearly forty cases involving the GTTF.

A report and video produced by Human Rights Watch and Situ Research documented how, on June 4, 2020, NYPD officers surrounded, assaulted, and arrested hundreds of protesters with no provocation or warning in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the South Bronx.

In December 2017, California serial hoax-caller Tyler Barriss called police to falsely report a murder-hostage situation at Finch’s address. Finch, who was unarmed and unaware of the phony emergency call, stepped onto his porch and was surrounded by officers. The officers did not identify themselves as law enforcement as they shouted contradictory commands. Within ten seconds, Rapp shot Finch in the chest from forty yards away even though Finch had not committed a crime or threatened officers or anyone else. The Finch family battled the City in court for five years before reaching the settlement.

Jones claimed he was discriminated against after being passed over for a chief position and a captain position.

During a racial justice protest on May 30, 2020, La Mesa Police Detective Eric Knudson fired a beanbag projectile that struck Furcron in the head. Due to the impact, Furcron was placed in a medically induced coma and was left blind in one eye and with permanent injuries that led to her using a walker.

A jury awarded the family of John Kyles $10 million and the family of Duane Dunlap $23 million in August 2022, and a Cook County judge rejected the Village’s attempt to overturn the verdict in March 2023. On October 9, 2016, Kyles and Dunlap were passengers in a car driven by a third man, who sped off when Dolton Police tried to pull over the vehicle for running through a stop sign. When their vehicle crashed, Kyles died at the scene and Dunlap suffered brain injuries requiring permanent residential care. However, the jury did not find Sergeant Lewis Lacey guilty of willful and wanton misconduct after he and fellow Officer Ryan Perez had been accused of causing the accident.

On February 23, 2020, Berwyn Police Officer Giuseppe Canciari allegedly slammed Nieto to the ground in a “take-down,” causing injuries including fractures to his facial bones, nose, and jaw.

In August 2018, Columbus Division of Police Officer Brandon Harmon arrested Standifer on an outstanding warrant for a traffic violation. At the time of the arrest, which included Harmon taking Standifer to the ground, Standifer had unhealed injuries from an unrelated car accident months earlier. Following his arrest and detention in the Franklin County Jail, Standifer went to the emergency room with pain from injuries sustained from Harmon’s use of excessive force. At the hospital, Standifer was diagnosed with Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA).

Two Austin Police officers, Richard Egal and Maxwell Johnson, shot and killed Nobles in May 2017. The civil lawsuit was tried in federal court before a jury, which recommended a total of $67 million in damages. Following judicial intervention and further negotiations, the City and the family settled the case for $3.3 million.

The vigil honored Elijah McClain, who died in August 2019 days after being placed in a carotid hold by officers and administered ketamine by paramedics. Under the direction of then-Police Chief Vanessa Wilson, Aurora Police declared the peaceful June 2020 vigil “unlawful” and deployed officers from multiple agencies. The lawsuit claimed that officers “indiscriminately deployed chemical agents,” wielded batons, and shot projectiles at the crowd.

The lawsuit, which had been in the midst of a federal trial at the time of the settlement, accused officers of using aggressive tactics against demonstrators, including journalists.

A special grand jury previously cleared Mercer of any criminal charges, and an internal IMPD review found no policy violations during the vehicle and foot pursuit and exchange of gunfire that resulted in Reed’s death. However, Reed’s family filed a civil lawsuit against the IMPD, leading to the settlement. The case was one of several lawsuits Indianapolis settled in recent years related to allegations of excessive force and civil rights violations by IMPD officers.

During a Black Lives Matter protest on May 30, 2020, law enforcement shot Gasca multiple times with pepper balls in her arm and both thighs even though she was wearing a clearly marked observer vest and was attempting to document police actions during the protest. Her federal lawsuit alleged that Reno Police violated her rights under the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments by using excessive force and chilling her right to peaceably assemble. Gasca also said the incident caused post-traumatic stress disorder, which she managed through therapy.

Garrett was wrongfully convicted in 2004 for the 2000 killing of Velma Tharpe. He was convicted despite DNA evidence and internal conclusions by the District Attorney’s office and the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department as early as 2001 suggesting that he may be innocent. Garrett’s conviction was vacated in 2021 after the Conviction Review Unit of the District Attorney’s office uncovered misconduct such as fabricated confessions, the suppression of DNA evidence linking another man to the crime, and failures by top officials to act on exculpatory findings. Criminal Court Judge Mark Fishburn sharply criticized the District Attorney’s office and police for what he called “malfeasance,” noting that they knowingly left an innocent man in prison. The $1.2 million settlement marked the largest wrongful conviction payout in Nashville’s history.

The passengers filed a lawsuit alleging that Honolulu Police Department (HPD) Officers Joshua Nahulu, Erik Smith, and Jake Bartolome conducted an illegal police chase that caused the crash, which led to serious injuries for the passengers such as broken ribs, spinal fractures, and permanent eye damage. Surveillance footage captured most of the chase. The settlement, approved by the City Council’s Executive Matters and Legal Affairs Committee, was awaiting full Council approval as of February 2023. Separate lawsuits from a teen left paralyzed and the driver of the vehicle—who suffered permanent brain injuries—were still pending and could make this one of HPD’s most expensive police pursuit cases.

In January 2020, Celestine was taking a phone call outside his friend’s home when an NOPD officer began surveilling him on a monitor about a mile away at the Real Time Crime Center, which has access to more than 1,200 live feeds from cameras across the city. The surveillance feed led to Celestine’s arrest because officers saw a “bulge” in his jacket and thought he had a weapon. Celestine spent a year in jail in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic before the District Attorney’s office dropped all charges against him in January 2021. With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, Celestine sued the NOPD for a litany of alleged abuses, including an unlawful stop, false arrest, and excessive force.

On August 29, 2018, Mayville Police Officer Nicholas Weber arrested Polzin for alleged disorderly conduct. Polzin asked Weber to loosen his handcuffs, but it is unclear whether Weber sufficiently loosened them. Polzin remained in handcuffs for about thirty minutes and later received a diagnosis of nerve damage and Wartenberg’s Syndrome, a condition caused by the compression of a nerve in the wrist.

On August 15, 2020, Thibodaux Police officers Shawn Snow, Simon Braud, Devon Lebouef, and Jory Guidry allegedly used excessive force upon their arrival at the home of Jackson, who has cerebral palsy. Jackson’s lawsuit alleged that the officers twisted his injured arm beyond its natural range of motion, applied tight handcuffs that left cuts and bruises, and smashed his legs and head against the police car.

In 2015, then-Officer Nouman Raja shot and killed Corey Jones after his car broke down on an Interstate 95 off-ramp. Jones was on the phone with roadside assistance at the time of the shooting, and the recorded call revealed that Raja never identified himself as a police officer. Raja was found guilty of manslaughter and attempted murder in a separate criminal case in 2019 and received a twenty-five-year prison sentence.