New York City has agreed to pay more than 300 Black Lives Matter protesters $21,500 each after they were tied up, beaten with batons and pepper sprayed during a demonstration in 2020.
The protesters took to the streets on June 4, 2020 to protest the police-involved killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis 10 days earlier, when they said members of the New York Police Department boxed them in and prevented them from leaving in a practice known as ‘boilering.’
Officers with batons then waved at the protesters and beat them with pepper spray, before restraining hundreds of protesters with plastic zip ties for violating a citywide curfew.
If a judge approves the plea deal filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, the New York Times reports, it would be one of the highest amounts ever awarded per person in a class action mass arrest case.
In total, the city could spend between $4 million and $6 million on the settlement.
This is when a riot broke out at a June 2020 Black Lives Matter protest in the Bronx, with the NYPD now agreeing to pay $21,500 to each of the roughly 300 protesters who were beaten down during the demonstration
Another image of the collision showed officers and protesters fighting close to a car. The NYPD has admitted to flouting its rules on how to deal with protesters
Protesters took to the streets of the Bronx on June 4, 2020 to protest the police killing of George Floyd
Photo shows members of the NYPD preparing for the protesters as they marched down 136th Street
According to the lawsuit, obtained by DailyMail.com, protesters were marching through the Mott Haven section of the Bronx on June 4, 2020 when police surrounded them on 136th Street between 7 and 7:30 p.m. — ahead of a citywide curfew at 8 p.m. .
That came in response to looting and rioting in New York — Manhattan in particular — in the wake of Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin.
A report from the time said that police officers had hoisted their bicycles against demonstrators, while another group of officers emerged at the top of the street and began to charge down the hill, pushing demonstrators against the advancing group of motorcycle cops.’
Soon, the lawsuit says, “police indiscriminately beat protesters with batons, threw them to the ground, and sprayed them with a chemical.”
Videos posted online also showed police shoving protesters and arresting legal observers and even medical personnel in the early days of the COVID pandemic.
At one point, a Human Rights Watch video showed, police knocked a woman to the ground and surrounded protesters with their batons before beating those on the perimeter.
In the video, people could be heard yelling, “We’re getting maced,” and telling police officers, “You’re going to kill someone.”
This tactic, the lawsuit argued, was directly endorsed by city leaders such as then-mayor Bill de Blasio and former police chief Terence Monahan, who spoke out against the protests that led to widespread looting and property destruction.
Together, they “attempted to suppress the protests with well-orchestrated operations in which the protesters were rounded up and violently arrested,” the lawsuit alleges.
Many demonstrators were left injured and bleeding. Some demonstrators fainted or lost consciousness and had convulsions.’
In doing so, the lawsuit alleged, the NYPD violated the protesters’ right to freedom of speech under the First Amendment, as well as their rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to equal protection of the laws.
Prosecutors also filed state laws for false arrest; attack and battery; refusal of medical care; inflicting emotional distress; negligent hiring, training and supervision; and excessive detention.
“We had every right to protest, but the City of New York made an explicit statement that day that the people of the Bronx are willing to be terrorized; Samiera Sierra, one of the protesters who sued the city, said in a statement to the Times.
A protester at the Bronx rally is pictured holding a flag reading “Breathe,” likely a reference to George Floyd’s cry of “I can’t breath” when he was killed by Derek Chauvin 10 days earlier
A subsequent report from the Human Rights Campaign found that police acted in a manner that was “unprovoked and without warning, chasing with their batons, knocking people off car roofs, pushing them to the ground, and pepper spray in their faces to shoot’.
But the kettle strategy was widely defended at the time by Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, who said it was necessary because the protesters defied curfews put in place after looters looted parts of Manhattan.
Shea also claimed that the Bronx protest was organized by “outside agitators,” and De Blasio said, “There was a specific pre-announced threat of violence, and then people showed up at the protest with guns and gasoline.”
“It’s absolutely the job of the police to make sure this doesn’t happen because we don’t tolerate violence,” he said.
However, no gasoline or weapons were ever recovered from the crime scene, and the lawsuit states that “there is no justification for the brutal and indiscriminate force used against Plaintiff and other peaceful protesters.”
And those who were arrested eventually had their cases dropped.
A man in a scarf raises his fist during protests in the Bronx in June 2020, now likely to result in a $4-6 million settlement paid by the NYPD to harried protesters
Others are seen protesting, offering aid to anyone who has been hit with tear gas, as well as other items to make protesters more comfortable
New York City will now pay those protesters $21,500 under the proposed settlement agreement, as well as $2,500 to each class member issued a Desk Appearance ticket and all “reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses.”
The attorneys are seeking an additional $2.5 million for those fees, according to court documents obtained by DailyMail.com.
They described the agreement to the Times as “historic,” noting that the highest amount paid per person in a mass arrest case was earlier in 2010, when a federal judge awarded $18,000 per person to protesters arrested during a protest in 2000 near the World Bank. and International Monetary Fund buildings in Washington DC as part of a $13.7 million settlement.
Lawyers said while about 330 people were eligible to receive the payments, 90 have already settled with the city in separate complaints.
Others may have decided to file separate claims against the city, especially those who reported more serious injuries.
The settlement is expected to be finalized in October, the Gothamistwith victims likely to receive compensation before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the New York Police Department said its policies and training for large-scale demonstrations have been revised, based on internal assessments and recommendations from three outside agencies that have been investigating policing in the wake of the 2020 mass protests.
“The NYPD remains committed to continually improving its practices in every way possible,” the department said in a statement to the Times.
It went on to say that the 2020 protests were “a challenging moment for the department as officers who themselves suffered the strain of a global pandemic went to great lengths to facilitate people’s right to peaceful expression, all of which while addressing acts of lawlessness, including large-scale riots, mass mayhem, violence and destruction.”
DailyMail.com has also contacted the Police Benevolent Association for comment.
