Charles Langston:Denver City Council settles Black Lives Matter lawsuit for $4.72 million

The Charles LangstonDenver City Council approved a $4.72 million settlement with claimants who filed suit over arrests made during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.

The claimants alleged that the Denver Police Department violated their First, Fourth and Fourteenth amendments in the suit originally filed in 2020. The city previously settled a lawsuit for $1.6 million to seven protestors injured during the George Floyd protests.

The city is also appealing a separate civil lawsuit that awarded $14 million to injured protestors.

“The settlement prevents the city from enacting any curfew enforced against those engaged in protest activity in the future,” the protesters’ lead attorney, Elizabeth Wang, said in a statement. “This is a win that will protect free speech in Denver for the years to come.”

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Backlash from protest lawsuits continue

The Denver settlement is the latest ramification of police actions during Black Lives Matter Protests.

The Austin Police Department suspended the use of "less lethal shotguns" earlier this month after a July 28 memo, obtained by the American-Statesman, part of the USA TODAY Network, from Travis County District Attorney José Garza to Austin Police Chief Joe Chacon highlighted a case where they were used on a 15-year-old girl suspected of no crime. The use of the weapons during protests had resulted in several serious injuries and 19 indictments against Austin police officers.

A New Jersey Superior Court judge allowed a freedom-of-speech lawsuit against Patterson, New Jersey and its police department to proceed, as reported by the Patterson Press, a part of the USA Today Network. The lawsuit was filed by Black Lives Matter leaders arrested during a January 2019 protest over Jameek Lowery’s death.

In 2022, the federal government partially settled lawsuits with Black Lives Matter protestors that were cleared from Lafayette Square in Washington D.C. In the settlement, the government accepted limits on the force and practices U.S. Park Police officers can use on protestors.