New York City Agrees to $6M Settlement Over Police Response to George Floyd Protests

About 320 people arrested during a George Floyd protest in the Bronx on June 4, 2020, and who claim the police used excessive force and violated their civil rights, will each receive about $21,500 under a settlement proposal agreed to by New York City.

The demonstrators alleged that the New York City Police Department arrested, charged and detained them without probable cause and subjected them to excessive force, as part of a planned police action involving senior members of the department.

In the consolidated action, the protesters complained that New York police violated their Fourth Amendment rights by arresting them without probable cause and by using excessive force to do so; violated their First Amendment right to freedom of expression by retaliating against them for their political speech; and violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights by denying them equal protection of the laws.

They also raised state-law claims for false arrest, assault and battery, denial of medical care, infliction of emotional distress, negligent hiring, training, and supervision, and disciplining subordinates, and excessive detention.

The proposed settlement was filed in federal district court in Manhattan on February 28 and must still be approved by the court. The parties have requested that a fairness hearing be held in October.

The settlement agreement does not admit any fault on the part of the city or police.

The plaintiffs sought money damages only and made no demand for injunctive relief.

Over several months in the spring and summer of 2020, demonstrations took to the streets over the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by Minneapolis police officers. During the protests, according to the complaint, NYPD officers descended on protesters with “unjustifiable fist and baton strikes, chemical pepper spray attacks, and other acts of physical violence.” They encircled the protesters and kept them from leaving, a tactic known as kettling.

These attacks, which plaintiffs allege were directed by NYPD supervising officers, were “unprovoked and legally unjustified,” and, according to the complaint, “were undertaken in retaliation for the protesters’ message — calling for greater police accountability, a reallocation of funding from away from police departments and into Black and Latinx communities, the end of police brutality, and a recognition that Black Lives Matter.”

In addition to the $21,500, some class members will receive an additional $2,500 for being subjected to fingerprinting, photographing, and a criminal history check and being detained for at least several more hours than those who received only a summons.

The city will also pay the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and costs.

Individuals who have already settled claims arising out of the events on June 4, 2020, are excluded from the proposed agreement.

In a statement to the New York Times and other media, the NYPD said it “remains committed to continually improving its practices in every way possible.”

The police statement also said the 2020 protests were “a challenging moment for the department as officers who themselves were suffering under the strains of a global pandemic did their utmost to help facilitate people’s rights to peaceful expression all while addressing acts of lawlessness including wide-scale rioting, mass chaos, violence, and destruction.”

Plaintiff attorneys said they believe this is the highest per-person settlement ever in a mass arrest class action in New York City.

“The highest levels of the NYPD coordinated a pre-planned assault on peaceful protesters, and we’re gratified that this historic settlement will provide some measure of justice to those who suffered from this brutality. We hope this historic award forces the City to finally account for how it polices peaceful demonstrations,” plaintiffs’ attorney Ali Frick, a partner with Kaufman Lieb Lebowitz & Frick, said.

“This unprecedented settlement recognizes that the NYPD’s actions on June 4th were grievously wrong and we hope this settlement marks an inflection point for policing in New York City,” plaintiffs’ attorney Joshua S. Moskovitz, a partner at Hamilton Clarke, said in a statement on the firm’s website.

The city of Minneapolis paid $27 million to settle a civil lawsuit from George Floyd’s family over his death in police custody. The city also paid $1.5 million to a man who said police used excessive force when he was arrested during Floyd protests and another $600,000 to 12 people who were injured during the protests.