Settlements

On June 15, 2015, Officer Joshua Klinge shot Jackson as he exited a motel room window. Klinge said he believed Jackson was reaching for a weapon, but Jackson was unarmed. Jackson’s parents, Angela Ainley and Patrick Jackson, filed a federal lawsuit in 2016 against the City, Klinge, and former Police Chief Brian Uhler alleging civil rights violations and wrongful death. The settlement was paid through a combination of city funds and insurance. Following Jackson’s death, the South Lake Tahoe Police Department implemented body-worn cameras in 2020 and the City created a Police Advisory Commission in 2021.

In 2019, Deputy Tyler Loup stopped Franks, who had just delivered produce to a grocery store, and accused him of loitering. Loup then arrested Franks for refusing to identify himself. Franks spent a night in jail but was never charged. His lawsuit alleged unlawful arrest and excessive use of force. On February 1, 2023, a jury concluded that the arrest lacked probable cause and that Loup acted with reckless disregard for constitutional rights. The County settled the case shortly afterward.

According to a federal civil rights lawsuit, Worship was sitting on the edge of his bed with his hands raised when Richton Park Police Officer Caleb Blood shot him with an assault rifle, shattering his kneecap. The SWAT team had raided the home with a narcotics search warrant for his mother’s boyfriend, who was arrested but ultimately not prosecuted. As part of the settlement, Richton Park agreed to issue a public apology and Blood agreed to issue a private apology and participate in retraining and recertification. Due to the incident, Worship had undergone five surgeries as of February 2023 and will likely need multiple knee replacements. The family continued to call for criminal charges against Blood.

The federal civil case, filed in July 2021, alleged that Williams broke Tran’s left elbow, dislocated his shoulders, and chipped one of his teeth while arresting him on June 29, 2019, for violating traffic ordinances by skateboarding in the street. Williams then allegedly manufactured charges against Tran to avoid consequences. Williams’s law enforcement certification has since been revoked for unrelated reasons.

After Maryland State Police officers pulled Smith over in February 2017, Smith proceeded to flee, leading to a three-mile chase. Once the officers stopped Smith, they allegedly threw him to the ground, directed their police dog to attack him, and arrested him. There was no body camera footage of the incident. In a separate case, the police officers were cleared of all charges of criminal wrongdoing.

Police claimed that the protesters, who were demonstrating in response to the acquittal of former St. Louis Police Officer Jason Stockley in the murder of Anthony Lamar Smith, refused to disperse. However, the lawsuit alleged that police surrounded protesters and refused to let them leave, and that officers beat and pepper-sprayed the protesters before arresting them.

 According to the lawsuit, Connors was filming police officers during the George Floyd protests in May 2020 when police falsely arrested him (meaning without justification) and subjected him to excessive force. Connors was incarcerated for three days, and the charges against him were ultimately dismissed.

St. Paul Police officers approached Golden on January 14, 2015, because he had allegedly sent threatening messages to his ex-girlfriend. Officers fatally shot Golden when he reportedly drove at them at a high speed, although Golden’s family disputes that he was driving toward the officers. The incident occurred before St. Paul Police officers began wearing body cameras. The settlement also stipulated that a member of Golden’s family would be appointed to the Neighborhood Safety and Community Council.

Police arrested Jason Dickman, who had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, for a graffiti violation. While he was detained at the Clark County Detention Center, his cellmate choked and killed him in May 2021. Richard Dickman alleged that Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers failed to place his son in a unit for individuals with severe mental illness.

Of the total settlement amount, $1.8 million would be paid by the Police Department, and the remainder would be paid by their insurance company. In January 2021, police used explosives to blow King’s door off in an attempt to search her home for evidence about a man who did not live there. The suit alleged that the explosion seriously injured King, including permanent damage to her eyes, and caused lasting trauma for her and her daughter.

The terms of the settlement were not released as of January 2023. In December 2020, Kennedy, a Black man, was standing in line at a convenience store when he struck up a conversation with another customer and mentioned his support for the Black Lives Matter movement and his negative experiences with the Shreveport Police Department. Officer Montrell Jackson overheard Kennedy and ordered him to step outside. He then threw Kennedy to the ground and repeatedly slammed his head on the sidewalk. Jackson, along with other officers who arrived, handcuffed and searched Kennedy but found nothing incriminating, and then took him to a hospital psychiatric ward. The next morning, a psychiatrist said there was no basis to hold Kennedy and released him.

Officers arrested McNeill in July 2023 after detectives using license plate reader technology mistakenly identified her car as being involved in a violent crime. They then subjected her to a harsh interrogation for several hours before realizing the error. The police chief, who later retired, apologized on behalf of the detectives.

On May 25, 2020, police, including Officer Adonis Long and Officer Shimul Saha, tried to remove Joseph T. from a subway train for allegedly taking up more than one seat. Joseph T. was arrested and charged with felony assault after officers alleged that he kicked them as they tried to handcuff him. However, body camera footage showed officers punching Joseph T., pepper-spraying him, and pushing his belongings off the train. The Manhattan District Attorney subsequently dropped the assault charges against Joseph T.

In 2016, Morrieson was walking outside when officers Daniel Soto and Ruandy Mendoza stopped him, claiming that they witnessed him selling drugs. When Morrieson asked the officers to identify themselves, they arrested him with excessive force and broke his eye socket even though Morrieson was not attempting to escape the officers, according to video footage. Morrieson, who denied being involved in a drug transaction, filed a federal lawsuit in 2018 alleging that the officers used gratuitous and unnecessary force during the arrest. The Jersey City Insurance Fund paid the $300,000 settlement amount.

On January 12, 2014, McKiernan arrested Alvarez on suspicion of dealing drugs. McKiernan then read at least one text message on Alvarez’s phone, which he used as evidence against Alvarez. According to Alvarez’s civil lawsuit, this constituted an unlawful search because McKiernan did not have a warrant. Alvarez served about three years in prison and filed a motion for a new trial in 2019, after which Massachusetts ultimately dropped the charges.

As shown in video footage recorded by a bystander, Columbus Police officers stunned Davis with a Taser eleven times and struck him dozens of times when they arrested him on warrants in 2017. Davis suffered kidney failure as a result of the beating. The eight officers involved in the arrest and subsequent lawsuit were with the Columbus Division of Police: Matthew Baker, Alan Bennett, Sean Connair, Eric Everhart, Anthony Johnson, LeVon Morefield, Robert Reffitt, and Ryan Steele.

According to the settlement terms, each woman would receive $18,500. A federal judge signed off on the settlements, which were reached following mediation mandated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Holtzclaw was accused of assaulting thirteen Black women and girls between 2013 and 2014 while on duty and off as a police officer. In 2015, a jury in a separate criminal case convicted him of multiple sexual offenses involving eight victims, and he was sentenced to 263 years in prison. The City had previously fought lawsuits that blamed police practices for his actions. In 2019, the City agreed to a $25,000 settlement to resolve a separate lawsuit accusing Holtzclaw of excessive force.

Davis died in August 2017 after his brother stabbed him. The lawsuit alleged that police violated the constitutional rights of Davis’s wife, other brother, and cousin by detaining them at the police station for over three hours instead of allowing them to visit Davis at the hospital before he died. Although these relatives were not suspects, officers questioned them at length, seized their phones, and prevented them from communicating with each other. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa and the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the officers had no probable cause for detaining the family and denied the officers’ motion for qualified immunity.

The jury also awarded Nazario $1,000 in punitive damages after Windsor Police Officer Daniel Crocker illegally searched Nazario’s SUV. Video footage showed the officers pointing their guns at the uniformed Army lieutenant in 2020 while commanding him to exit his vehicle. Gutierrez then pepper-sprayed Nazario through the window and knocked him to the ground when he exited the SUV. The officers claimed that they were performing their duties “within the law” after Nazario failed to immediately pull over and refused to exit his vehicle. A federal judge found that they had probable cause to stop Nazario for an improperly displayed license plate.

In June 2020, Ferreira filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against officers Derek Oagles, Frederick Mello, and Thomas Roberts. On August 17, 2017, the officers arrested Ferreira while he and a friend were waiting for a cab outside a restaurant. During the arrest, Ferreira suffered a collapsed lung, broken ribs, and permanent nerve damage, among other serious injuries. He also spent twenty months fighting felony assault charges for allegedly fighting with the officers, but those charges were dropped after some of the police officer witnesses failed to appear on the first day of trial.

On April 9, 2020, state troopers attempted to arrest Hornback at his home in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, for a missed court appearance. Troopers James Cameron Wright and Thomas Czartorski allegedly used excessive force during the arrest and beat Hornback. The troopers then allegedly lied under oath by claiming that they did not strike Hornback, which was later contradicted by a home security video. Czartorski, who resigned in February 2021, agreed to pay an additional $5,000.

On April 4, 2020, Sheriff’s Deputy Nikko Miller and Deputy Jeremy Jucutan stunned Anglero-Wyrick with a Taser and sicced a K-9 on him after an unsubstantiated report that Anglero-Wyrick had pointed a gun at someone earlier that day. However, they did not find any weapon, and no charges were filed against Anglero-Wyrick, who is Black. Cellphone video showed Anglero-Wyrick standing with his hands raised and empty before the deputies stunned him and deployed the K-9. The attack lasted for ninety seconds, causing severe leg injuries that required ongoing physical therapy and prevented his return to work in construction. The lawsuit, filed in 2021, alleged excessive force and racial bias in law enforcement interactions.

Surveillance video from outside the bar Sophia’s Tavern showed an Erie Police officer punching McLaurin in the head multiple times during the arrest, which also involved four other Erie Police officers and a county detective. McLaurin, who is Black, claimed that the officers used excessive force and that the City fostered “a culture of a lack of accountability” by failing to discipline those involved. Although the video sparked public outcry and calls for reform—including demands for a civilian review board—none of the officers faced criminal charges or disciplinary action.

Winkle, the son of the former police chief, was later sentenced to ten years in prison and two years of supervised release. Winkle was one of four MPD officers indicted in April 2021 in a seventeen-count superseding indictment for use of excessive force and/or covering up misconduct. On multiple occasions, Winkle and other officers physically assaulted people who were not resisting arrest. In one such instance, during a traffic stop due to a missing headlight, former MPD Officer Jeremy Gibson repeatedly punched the driver, Manny Montero, in the face and Winkle delivered two knee strikes to Montero’s head. Following the incident, Winkle wrote a false report. Montero later filed a lawsuit against the City and received a $250,000 settlement. 

Taylor’s lawsuit alleged that the Town condones its police officers’ violence. As of March 2023, Lynch had been the subject of three excessive force lawsuits. He was sentenced to probation for felony perjury and assault against Taylor and can no longer be a police officer.