Settlements

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.

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 Los Angeles spent $57.1 million on police misconduct cases. A separate analysis conducted by The Los Angeles Times in 2018 concluded that the city paid more than $190 million for police misconduct settlements from July 2005 to 2018.

In 2018, the City of San Jose paid a $125,000 settlement to five men who were arrested for lewd conduct in an undercover operation and ultimately found to be innocent. The investigation that resulted in these charges targeted and discriminated against the gay community.

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 Chicago spent $249.7 million on police misconduct cases. In 2015, the city paid $5 million to the family of Laquan McDonald, who was shot and killed by a Chicago police officer 16 times as he walked away from the officer. A separate analysis conducted by local news source NBC5 Chicago determined that the city paid over $45 million to resolve police misconduct cases between January and July 2018.

According to the reporting of local news source 7 Action News, the City of Detroit paid $19.1 million for police misconduct settlements between 2015 and 2018. Two of the larger settlements, for $400,000 and $925,000, respectively, arose from unlawful shooting claims.

In 2017, the City of Ferguson paid $1.5 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Michael Brown, who was killed by officer Darren Wilson in 2014.

According to The Denver Post’s review of data provided by the Denver City Attorney’s office, the City of Denver paid nearly $28 million for police and jail claims from 2004 to 2017. During the same time period, 82 percent of all settlements sent to the Denver City Council for approval (a total of $33.7 million) were for police and jail related claims. In September 2019, the Denver City Council approved a settlement total of $500,000 in an excessive force and malicious prosecution lawsuit filed against the Denver Police Department.

In 2017, Montgomery County, Maryland reached a $45,000 settlement with photographer Mannie Garcia for a 2011 wrongful arrest.

From 2015 to 2017, the City of Milwaukee paid $21.4 million in settlements for police misconduct cases, including interest and attorneys’ fees.

The City of Cleveland paid more than $13.2 million to settle police misconduct lawsuits between 2014 and 2016, including a $6 million settlement to the family of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was fatally shot by Officer Timothy Loehmann in November 2014.

In 2016, the City of New Orleans reached a settlement worth $13.3 million for 17 plaintiffs, including individuals who were injured and families of people who were killed during violent interactions with police in the weeks prior to and following Hurricane Katrina.

In 2016, Waller County, Texas paid $1.9 million to the family of Sandra Bland, who died in police custody after initially being pulled over for failing to signal a lane change.

In 2012, the St. Louis Police Department paid $212,500 to the family of Normane Bennet, who was shot by police following their pursuit of him in an attempt to make a drug arrest. In 2013, the department agreed to pay $400,000 to the family of Cary Ball, who was shot 212 times by police following a pursuit, and also paid $900,000 to the survivors of Anthony Lamar Smith, who was fatally shot by police. According to a review of police settlement cases between 2010 and early 2016, these were among the largest of 44 settlements—totaling $4.7 million—by the department.

According to an analysis of city records conducted by The Columbus Dispatch, lawsuits and claims of police misconduct and civil rights violations resulted in $1.9 million in payouts by the City of Columbus from 2010 to 2015.