NYC settles historic class action suit over racial injustice protests

New York City will pay more than $13 million to more than 1,300 people who were arrested or beaten during protests against racial injustice in summer 2020. 

The agreement comes after a civil rights lawsuit accused leaders of the city’s police department of violating protesters’ First Amendment rights with “coordinated” brutality and unlawful arrests. 

The arrests came as thousands poured into the city’s streets, protesting the murder of George Floyd that May. Floyd, a Black man, died after a white police officer in Minneapolis kneeled on his neck for more than nine minutes.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit recounted being confronted by New York police officers who charged, corralled and detained demonstrators for hours. 

The lawsuit, brought by the National Lawyers Guild, focused on 18 of the protests that took place throughout New York City in the week following Floyd’s murder. 

The settlement must still be approved by a judge, but it would allow New York City to avoid an expensive and politically charged trial.

It’s not the first protest-related lawsuit the city has settled this year. 

In March, New York City agreed to pay more than $21,000 to some 300 people who were corralled and beaten with batons by police in the Bronx during racial justice protests in 2020. 

The newest settlement would be even more expensive, with lawyers saying it will be one of largest payouts ever awarded in a mass arrest lawsuit.

New York isn’t the only city to be considering settlements following summer 2020. 

After Floyd’s murder, more than 26 million people flooded the streets around the nation, protesting police brutality and racial injustice. 

Thousands were corralled into tight spaces by law enforcement, attacked with batons and tear-gassed before they were arrested. 

Police departments around the country, including attorneys for New York, defended law enforcement tactics, citing demonstrations that turned into riots, the burning of police cars and looting of stores. 

In the current case, New York City invoked qualified immunity, which protects police officers from having individual lawsuits brought against them for actions they took in the line of duty. 

But the lawyers guild argued the 2020 arrests were the latest string of “systemic violations” by the NYPD. The attorneys cited demonstrations during the 2004 Republican National Convention, which saw hundreds of protestors — including journalists —  detained. The city agreed to pay $18 million in that settlement in 2014.

Most of the protests for racial justice in 2020 were peaceful. As a result, 19 cities, including New York, this year announced they would pay more than $80 million to demonstrators who suffered injuries at the hands of law enforcement during these protests.  

Other cities are still facing lawsuits for their tactics to subdue protesters in 2020, but in New York, plaintiffs in the most recent settlement will be eligible for $9,950 each.