Denver Settles With Black Lives Matter Protesters for $4.7 Million

The authorities in Denver approved a $4.7 million settlement on Monday for more than 300 protesters who were detained for violating an emergency curfew during demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd in 2020, and later accused the police of using excessive force.

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The Denver demonstrations were part of unrest in cities across the United States and beyond over the May 2020 death of Mr. Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, after a white police officer in Minneapolis held his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck as he gasped for breath. {snip}

The settlement approved on Monday is the second major victory for protesters who have criticized the Denver Police Department’s handling of the 2020 demonstrations. In a civil case last year, a jury in federal court in Colorado ordered the Denver authorities to pay $14 million in damages to 12 protesters after finding that police officers had used excessive force against them in 2020.

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Their lawyers accused the police in a complaint of using “violent crowd control tactics” against hundreds of protesters who gathered in late May and early June of 2020 to demonstrate against police brutality and racism against Black people in the United States. They said the police fired tear gas, flashbang grenades, pepper balls, rubber bullets and other projectiles directly at protesters without giving them time to disperse.

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The city attorney’s office said in June that it was dismissing 320 cases against people who had been arrested for curfew violations during the 2020 demonstrations but were not charged with additional crimes.

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