Jury Awards $14 Million To Anti-Police Brutality Protesters Who Were Brutalized By Colorado Police Officers
from the warning-that-will-probably-be-ignored dept
Cops who thought they could just be cops and that would be enough to let them get way with excessive force deployment and other misconduct have just received a rude awakening. The public — which includes very carefully selected jury members — is sick of law enforcement’s shit.
A federal jury Friday awarded $14 million in compensatory and punitive damages to 12 people who were injured by Denver police officers while protesting the death of George Floyd in 2020, according to court documents.
After deliberating for nearly five hours, the jury decided that Denver police response during protests in May and June 2020 violated these protesters’ constitutional rights, the documents show.
The City and County of Denver was a defendant in the lawsuit along with Jonathan Christian, a police officer during the 2020 protests.
Officer Christian may end up being indemnified by the city, but the message sent by the jury is clear: reacting violently to protesters reacting to police violence will not be considered acceptable behavior by members of the public asked to perform this civic duty.
The jury had no disagreement as to whether the city and its police department were responsible for the violent acts alleged in the lawsuit. The lawsuit’s allegations apparently made it clear the PD violated rights during its response to protests and that it had the city’s explicit blessing to do so. The only issue debated by the jury was how much each protester was owed.
After three weeks of trial, all eight jurors who awarded $14 million to protesters injured during the 2020 George Floyd protests in Denver agreed without debate that the city was at fault for its police officers’ actions, according to one of the jurors in the room.
“There was no disagreement that what Denver did was awful,” said the juror, who described the deliberations to The Denver Post on condition of anonymity because she feared being harassed by people unhappy about the verdict.
The five hours the jury spent Friday deliberating instead focused on exactly how much money to award each of the 12 plaintiffs and evaluating the actions of the sole officer named as a defendant in the case, she said.
The breakdown per litigant can be found in the jury decision [PDF]. At minimum, the jury awarded $750,000. Other protesters are due $3 million each.
The city and the named police officer will definitely appeal this decision, as well as the awarded damages. And it’s undoubtedly true some of these awards will be reduced, if not reversed. But the initial decision is a powerful rebuke of agencies and officers who greet mass criticism with violence, intimidation, and a refusal to accept the statement being made by protesters: unfettered law enforcement violence — especially violence that targets minorities — is no longer acceptable.
Filed Under: denver, denver police, jonathan christian, police, police brutality, protests
Comments on “Jury Awards $14 Million To Anti-Police Brutality Protesters Who Were Brutalized By Colorado Police Officers”
Who pays?
It is not just the tax payers in Denver who will pay for this; it is tax payers across the country. The costs associated with insuring against the risks of having a police department will grow.
https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/545261-the-future-of-police-liability/
Re: Ahh
This is the best possible solution. The insurance companies will police the police.
PDs that are out of control will find themselves dropped by their insurers or will have much higher premiums. This will drive cities to crack down on their out-of-control PDs.
Re: Re: Police should be individually responsible for their own brutality
Abolish qualified immunity and make the fines applicable to their bank accounts.
Re: Re: Re:
I wouldn’t abolish qualified immunity so much as change it around. Allow the defendant to get the case dismissed only if there is a preexisting case where the action at issue was found to be legal.
If there is no such issue, then the defendant gets to have their day in court, just like everyone else.
As far as paying any fines, I would be more than happy to reduce the fine considerably, as long as the defendant was prohibited from accepting reimbursement of the fine from any third party, be that the government, a union, or a gofundme collection. The fines shouldn’t be large enough to bankrupt the defendant, but should be large enough to be a painful reminder not to screw up like that again.
A corollary to something said in the article.
…often create more protests, which may escalate to riots under the right conditions.
Punishment
Why should the police care? The money won’t come out of their pockets. Only the taxpayers suffer.
Isn’t there a way for the right of appeal to be denied in circumstances like this? The party with more resources should always be forced to accept the initial ruling as a counterbalance to the less well off not being able to progress a case as easily through all its endless appeals. And speaking of which, it shouldn’t take an eternity for a case to be dealt with by the courts – 90 days max from the time of filing.
Re: IF
If we could give both sides 1 day each to debate, contest, Argue their side. Insted of Weeks, months, years, DECADES..
It would be great.
AND if you can make it so a lawyer is paid by a Fixed amount, it would be great.
Re: Re:
Lots of countries have “loser pays all” judicial systems, and that necessarily comes with billing rate limits. In such countries even with similar living standards as in the U.S., losing a case tends to come cheaper than winning a case in the U.S. does.
Better than bad but not quite good
But the initial decision is a powerful rebuke of agencies and officers who greet mass criticism with violence, intimidation, and a refusal to accept the statement being made by protesters: unfettered law enforcement violence — especially violence that targets minorities — is no longer acceptable.
Not… really? I mean it’s certainly better than no penalty but unless those directly involved are paying even a notable percentage of the amount it’s less a ‘powerful rebuke’ and more a stern wagged finger.
The day violent and/or abusive officers pay their own legal fines is the day they start to care about the rights and lives of those around them and not one moment sooner.
Re: Better than bad but not quite good
The day violent and/or abusive officers pay their own legal fines is the day they start to care about the rights and lives of those around them and not one moment sooner.
Only when they are forced to pay personally will they suddenly, BLAMMO, get it.
$20
So, I still haven’t been able to find a clear answer.
Is the passing of counterfeit currency punishable by the death sentence, at the scene, by the lynch mob in blue, without judicial oversight, or chance of appeal?
Re: nope
And its funny, that everything that created the situation has disappeared.
Fake money or not
The Right person or not.
All gone.
Re:
Given that someone was convicted of murder for it, I’m not sure why you’re asking.
What was the point of the case?
After finding the cops guilty, the jury should have just asked the judge to wag their finger and say, “Don’t do it again.” After all, it’s the taxpayer who’ll be paying the $14 million, so the cops aren’t really experiencing any punishment at all.
An answer with teeth
Take the settlements from the police funding.
Take the money
Take it from the police unions and pensions. THEN the police might actually give a F. Until then, why should the police care at all?