A federal jury has awarded $14 million in compensatory and punitive damages to 12 Black Lives Matter protesters who were injured by police during a riot over the death of George Floyd in 2020.
The jury decided that the protesters constitutional rights were violated by the Denver Police over their use of less-lethal weapons to try and break up the riot.
“The violence and destruction that occurred around the community required intervention,” one of Denver’s lawyers, Lindsay Jordan, told the jurors.
The activists sued the City and County of Denver and former police officer Jonathan Christian.
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Christian was accused of shooting current state legislative candidate Elisabeth Epps with a pepper ball.
“The jurors found Christian violated Epps’ Fourth Amendment rights and awarded her $250,000 in punitive damages. They denied her First Amendment claims against him,” the Denver Gazette reports. “At trial the two sides disputed whether the pepper ball fired by Christian actually hit Epps. She said after the verdict came down it had felt ‘disorienting’ for the city to challenge her account of what she experienced.”
Attorneys for the protesters claimed their clients never assaulted officers or destroyed property.
The payouts are as follows:
- Claire Sannier: $1 million
- Stanford Smith: $1 million
- Zachary Packard: $3 million
- Sara Fitouri: $1 million
- Maya Rothlein: $1 million
- Amanda Blasingame: $1 million
- Joe Deras: $1 million
- Elle Taylor: $1 million
- Ashlee Wedgeworth, $750,00
- Jackie Parkins: $1 million
- Elisabeth Epps: 1 million in compensatory damages, $250,000 in punitive damages
- Hollis Lyman: $1 million
NBC News reports, “in Austin, Texas, officials have agreed to pay over $13 million to people injured in protests in May 2020, and 19 officers have been indicted for their actions against protesters. Last month, two police officers in Dallas accused of injuring protesters after firing less lethal munitions were charged.”