New York City to Pay Millions to George Floyd Protesters

Facts

• New York City has agreed to pay $21.5K to at least 200 protesters who were detained, arrested, or met with force by police during a June 4, 2020 demonstration protesting the death of George Floyd. It will pay another $21.5k each to cover legal costs, and $2.5k to defendants given court tickets, totaling more than $10M.¹
• The lawsuit, first filed on behalf of five protesters in October 2020, accused the New York Police Department (NYPD) of engaging in a 'brutal response' to the demonstration by boxing the crowd in — a tactic called 'kettling' — before handcuffing them with plastic restraints and striking them with batons.²
• In response to the settlement, which claimed people 'were left injured and bleeding,' the NYPD stated it 'remains committed to continually improving its practices' but that officers 'did their utmost to help facilitate people’s rights to peaceful expression all while addressing...wide-scale rioting, mass chaos, violence, and destruction.'³
• Last month, the city’s civilian police review board recommended that 146 officers should face disciplinary action for misconduct during the 2020 protests. According to the Legal Aid Society, the city last year paid out $121M in police misconduct settlements, the most in five years.⁴
• This settlement comes after about 90 of the more than 300 people eligible have already settled with the city in separate claims. The class-action settlement, if approved by a judge, would be the highest-ever regarding mass police action.²

Sources: ¹Nbc new york, ²BBC News, ³Axios and ⁴Reuters.

Narratives

• Left narrative, as provided by Usa today. The NYPD’s purposefully corralling of peaceful protesters and brutal assault drew a horrifying resemblance to police abuse during the 1965 Selma, Alabama march, and everyone responsible should face the consequences. If the police want to be respected, they should steer clear of such tactics in the future — especially when the protest is specifically about police brutality.
• Right narrative, as provided by Reason.com. America's police departments were not dealing with benign, peaceful protesters during the summer of 2020 — they were in a war instigated by the left through lies in the media and from politicians as high up as Pres. Biden. Millions of people took to the streets, and the police did what they had to do to restore peace. Some overstepped the bounds of their training, but we shouldn't paint all officers with a broad brush.