Current:Home > reviewsDenver to pay $4.7 million to settle claims it targeted George Floyd protesters for violating curfew -AssetTrainer
Denver to pay $4.7 million to settle claims it targeted George Floyd protesters for violating curfew
View
Date:2025-04-15 14:38:51
DENVER (AP) — Denver will pay $4.7 million to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged that protesters were unjustly targeted for violating the city’s curfew during demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd in 2020.
City councilors unanimously agreed to the deal Monday without any debate.
The lawsuit alleged that the city directed police to only enforce the emergency 8 p.m. curfew against protesters, violating their free speech rights, even though the curfew applied to all people in any public place. It also said that over 300 protesters were taken to jail in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic rather than just being issued tickets for violating the curfew.
“The First Amendment does not allow police to clear the streets of protestors simply because they do not agree with their message,” the lead attorney for the protesters, Elizabeth Wang, said in a statement.
The city denied having an official policy of using the curfew against protesters but decided that continuing the lawsuit and going to a trial would be “burdensome and expensive,” according to the settlement.
Last year, a federal jury ordered Denver to pay a total of $14 million in damages to a group of 12 protesters who claimed police used excessive force against them, violating their constitutional rights, during the demonstrations.
The curfew deal is the latest in a series of settlements related to the 2020 protests over police killings of Floyd and other Black people.
In March, the city council approved a total of $1.6 million in settlements to settle lawsuits brought by seven protesters who were injured, The Denver Post reported.
veryGood! (65)
Related
- Taylor Swift makes surprise visit to Kansas City children’s hospital
- Director of troubled Illinois child-services agency to resign after 5 years
- 'Devastated': 5 wounded in shooting at Morgan State University in Baltimore
- Ally Brooke Teases Fifth Harmony Reunion—But It's Not What You Think
- The company planning a successor to Concorde makes its first supersonic test
- 'It's personal': Lauren Holiday 'crushed' leaving Milwaukee after Bucks trade Jrue Holiday
- France is bitten by a fear of bedbugs as it prepares to host Summer Olympics
- Dear Life Kit: Your most petty social dilemmas, answered
- Federal hiring is about to get the Trump treatment
- A Texas official faces criminal charge after accidentally shooting his grandson at Nebraska wedding
Ranking
- Trump issues order to ban transgender troops from serving openly in the military
- Mining company employee killed in western Pennsylvania mine accident
- Judge tosses challenge to Louisiana’s age verification law aimed at porn websites
- Homecoming queen candidate dies on football field in Ohio; community grieves
- 'Kraven the Hunter' spoilers! Let's dig into that twisty ending, supervillain reveal
- Day care operator heads to prison after misusing child care subsidy and concealing millions from IRS
- Bank on it: Phillies top Marlins in playoff opener, a win with a ring-fingered endorsement
- New technology uses good old-fashioned wind to power giant cargo vessels
Recommendation
Macy's says employee who allegedly hid $150 million in expenses had no major 'impact'
Charges dropped against 'Sound of Freedom' crowd investor: 'There was no kidnapping'
Ivy Queen on difficult road to reggaeton success, advice to women: 'Be your own priority'
Bangladesh’s anti-graft watchdog quizzes Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus in embezzlement case
Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
Temptations, Four Tops on hand as CEO shares what’s going on with Motown Museum’s expansion plans
New rules aim to make foster care with family easier, provide protection for LGBTQ+ children
Stealing the show: Acuña leads speedsters seeking October impact in pitch clock era