Settlements

Hayes has developmental disabilities and was unarmed at the time of his shooting. It is unclear why he was targeted by an off-duty police officer, but the incident was caught on video and the officer involved in the incident was suspended for six months.

Antonio Valenzuela, 40, had a warrant out for his arrest for a parole violation. When he encountered Las Cruces officers, he reportedly resisted arrest and fled. Officer Christopher Smelser would later detain Valenzuela and put him in a chokehold. Valenzuela subsequently died from asphyxia injuries. The settlement also establishes new policy changes for Las Cruces police, which will ban all chokeholds and fire any officer that violates this new policy.

Cinthia Thevenin filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Troy Police Department following the death of her 37-year-old husband, Edson Thevenin. The lawsuit alleges that Thevenin was wrongfully killed by Sergeant French during a DWI stop in April 2016. An internal department investigation found that French had forced Thevenin’s car off the road and lied about aspects of the case. Following the death of Sergeant French due to COVID-19 complications, the city ultimately decided to settle the lawsuit.

Detroit resident Kira Thorne filed a lawsuit against the city alleging that the police department violated her civil rights by shooting her dog without cause during a narcotics raid. This is the fourth lawsuit in recent history where Detroit police have shot and killed a resident’s dog.

The complaint, filed with the Civilian Complaint Review Board, alleged that former detective Fabio Nunez had placed Medina in a chokehold and tased him 13 times when responding to a noise complaint. At the time, choke holds had been banned by the police department. Since beginning as an officer, Nunez has been named in several lawsuits alleging excessive force and other forms of misconduct. After attempting to have the case dismissed, a district judge ruled that the city and NYPD officials could be held liable, leading the city to settle for $567,500.

Rowlett and fellow Officer Luis Garcia were accused of fraternization by their colleagues, who also spread rumors about a relationship between the two. Rowlett also alleged that her supervisor made suggestive comments towards her.

Neither Jones nor Wilson were charged with any traffic violations after their encounter with police. The officers involved in the incident have both been involved in past incidents of misconduct.

The lawsuit also spurred new policy initiatives with the King County Sheriff’s Office, which now requires officers to use body and dashboard cameras. Dunlap-Gittens was shot seven times by officers in a failed sting operation concerning alcohol.

The officer who confronted Atkinson resigned from the Boulder Police Department, and the Department enhanced oversight in response to national media coverage of the incident.

This settlement is one of the largest in the city’s history. Officers claimed that they feared Morales was trying to back his van into them when he reversed off a curb during the chase when the shooting occurred.

The lawsuit stems from a police encounter alleging that Naperville police officers violently detained Reitz, by throwing her to the ground, without cause. Under the agreement Reitz will drop the lawsuit against the city, and the settlement is not an “admission of liability.”

The lawsuit and settlement stems from a 2018 encounter Brown had with the police. Brown alleged that police used excessive force when they detained Brown for parking in a handicapped spot and proceeded to wrestle him to the ground, tase him, and step on his ankle.

Wayne Arnold Jones was shot twenty-two times by Martinsburg police in March 2020. Officers claimed that they shot Jones after he had attacked them violently, and they were not able to restrain him with a stun gun.

Officer Kristopher Clark shot Than Orn’s vehicle ten times when Orn tried to swerve around Clark’s patrol car, which was blocking the exit of an apartment building parking lot. After the shooting, Orn was charged with assault on a police officer but was later acquitted of those charges in a jury trial. Orn is now paralyzed from the chest down.

In 2015, The Wall Street Journal released an analysis of settlement totals from instances of police misconduct among the ten largest local police departments in the nation. Many of the cases involved in the analysis involved alleged beatings, shootings, and wrongful imprisonment. The analysis determined that, between 2010 and 2014, New York City spent $601.3 million on police misconduct cases. In 2015, the city paid $5.9 million to the estate of Eric Garner, who died after being put in a police chokehold. Additionally, a report released by the New York City Comptroller’s Office disclosed that the city spent nearly $270 million to resolve police misconduct claims in fiscal years 2017 and 2018. A recent analysis of data published by the New York City Law Department, detailing information on civil actions alleging police misconduct, showed that in 2019 the city was responsible for over $68 million in payouts to resolve nearly 1,400 civil lawsuits filed against the department.

In 2015, The Wall Street Journal released an analysis of settlement totals from instances of police misconduct among the ten largest local police departments in the nation. Many of the cases involved in the analysis involved alleged beatings, shootings, and wrongful imprisonment. The analysis determined that, between 2010 and 2014, Miami-Dade spent $3.1 million on police misconduct cases.

In 2015, the City of Miami settled a federal civil rights lawsuit worth nearly $1 million with the family of Travis McNeil, who was shot and killed by police detective Reynaldo Goyos in 2011.

In 2019, Miami settled another police misconduct lawsuit for $65,000. The suit had accused Captain Javier Ortiz of the Miami Police Department (who was a lieutenant, and the head of the Miami Police Department’s union at the time of the incident) of using excessive force following a traffic stop in 2015.

In October 2019, the City of East Pittsburgh in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania reached a $2 million settlement with the family of Antwon Rose, Jr., a 17-year-old who was unarmed when he was killed in a police shooting in 2018. Prior to the finalization of the settlement, the officer was acquitted of criminal homicide.

In 2019, the City of Portland agreed to a $10,000 settlement with a woman who accused police of assaulting her with a baton in October 2016. According to local news reports, the woman alleged that officers beat her with the baton on the chest and forearm as she watched a downtown protest.

In June 2019, the City of Indianapolis agreed to a settlement worth $2.15 million for Gerald Cole, who was shot twice in the back by Officer James Perry of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, leaving Mr. Cole partially paralyzed.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has settled a number of lawsuits in recent years involving wrongful shootings. This includes a $2.25 million settlement following the shooting of Jonathan Ferrell; a $115,000 settlement award to Charlotte teenager Jeffrey Green, who was wounded in a police shooting; and $700,000 paid to the estate of Anthony Wayne Furr, who was working on a cellphone tower when he was fatally shot by police in 2006.

In March 2019, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a police misconduct settlement of $13.1 million to Jamal Trulove, who was wrongly convicted of murder in 2010 and sentenced to 50 years to life in prison. After spending six years in prison, an Oakland jury acquitted Mr. Trulove in a 2015 retrial, which determined that two police officers (who have since retired) fabricated evidence and did not disclose exculpatory material.

In 2014, Honolulu paid $1.4 million to the family of Aaron Torres, who was suffocated while in police custody. In March 2019, the Honolulu City Council agreed to pay $550,000 to a retired police lieutenant to resolve a 2009 lawsuit filed against the Honolulu Police Department regarding the conduct of Police Chief Susan Ballard, who improperly tampered with recruits’ test scores when she oversaw the department’s training division.

In January 2019, a family received a settlement total of $300,000 after filing a lawsuit against the City of Tucson and several officers of the Tucson Police Department. The lawsuit accused the officers of detaining members of the Wyatt family, forcing them to lie on the ground after they approached a traffic stop occurring near their home.

In 2015, The Wall Street Journal released an analysis of settlement totals from instances of police misconduct among the ten largest local police departments in the nation. Many of the cases involved in the analysis involved alleged beatings, shootings, and wrongful imprisonment. The analysis determined that, between 2010 and 2014, the City of Baltimore spent $12 million on police misconduct cases. A separate analysis conducted by Baltimore Brew concluded that Baltimore taxpayers paid $24.5 million for police misconduct settlements between fiscal years 2015 and 2019.

In 2015, The Wall Street Journal released an analysis of settlement totals from instances of police misconduct among the ten largest local police departments in the nation. Many of the cases involved in the analysis involved alleged beatings, shootings, and wrongful imprisonment. The analysis determined that, between 2010 and 2014, the City of Phoenix spent $5.6 million on police misconduct cases. A separate analysis using data from the Phoenix Finance Department also reported that between fiscal years 2008 and 2018, the city paid more than $26 million to settle 191 claims of police misconduct.