Seattle to Pay $10 Million to Protesters Who Said Police Used Excessive Force During 2020 Protests

Seattle has agreed to pay $10 million to 50 demonstrators who sued over the police department’s heavy-handed response to racial justice protests in 2020, in a settlement announced by attorneys from both sides Wednesday.

The protesters were among tens of thousands who rallied downtown and in the Capitol Hill neighborhood for weeks following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police – a period that saw Seattle’s police department abandon its East Precinct building as well as the establishment of the “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest,” a six-block zone taken over by protesters.

The police department – led by then-Chief Carmen Best – used aggressive techniques to disperse the crowds, including flash-bang grenades, foam-tipped projectiles and blast balls that explode and emit pepper gas.

At some points during protests, people in the crowds did cause damage, including burning police cars and trying to set a fire at the East Precint. But a federal judge ordered the department to stop using chemical and other weapons indiscriminately against peaceful demonstrators.

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