'Absolutely Thrilled With The Verdict': Jury Awards $14 Million To Protesters Injured During May 2020 Demonstrations
DENVER (CBS4)– After a nearly three-week trial, a jury returned a verdict Friday afternoon in a landmark case involving the American Civil Liberties Union and the City and County of Denver stemming from protests that happened in May 2020. The final amount awarded to the plaintiffs involved was $14 million.
The ACLU and private attorneys represented 12 people who were injured while protesting the death of George Floyd. They were asking for a combined $17.5 million.
"We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes and I am absolutely thrilled with the verdict. It's incredibly validating," said plaintiff Elisabeth Epps. Epps, who was hit in the leg by a projectile as she crossed the street near the Capitol during the protests was awarded $1.25 million, $250,000 of it in a verdict against officer Jonathan Christian for violating her Fourth Amendment rights. But the jury did not find he violated her First Amendment rights.
The greatest award was $3 million to Zachary Packard. Packard was hit by a projectile and suffered bleeding on the brain, a fractured skull and jaw and two discs in his neck.
"The injury terrified me, I thought I was going to die. When they told me my brain was bleeding I was like, 'Well, I probably won't wake up tomorrow,'" he said. "Now we need to shift the focus back on the community and what we can do to strengthen the community and hold police accountable."
None of the twelve plaintiffs was shown to be involved in the violence during the protests. Police body camera and other video was used as evidence against the department.
"Certainly the police have a difficult job policing a protest that has thousands of peaceful, law-abiding protesters and also has a few people that are engaging in vandalism or throwing things at the police. Yeah, it's a tough job," said ACLU legal director Mark Silverstein. "But to respond in the way that the police did giving discretion to every individual officer to use whatever potentially fatal tool they wanted to use, even if they haven't been trained on it and then to allow them even without the threat of accountability to allow them to retaliate against protestors because the police themselves got angry," he explained, should be a message. "The failure of leadership extended from the highest echelons of the police department all the way down to the front line officers."
Epps said she was upset in court at the way in which the protestors were portrayed by the city's legal counsel.
"The way in which they framed is if we were the least bit disruptive that we deserve what happened to us, really proves a point of what the protests were about."
She was glad for the jury's acknowledgment.
"It matters because it's such a statement and it's a message to our city of what our safety is worth. Right. What our rights as protestors, as community members are worth. In that way the number actually does matter."
Packard added, "And it's not really about individual officers, it's about the system that they uphold. The whole thing needs to be fixed."
The office of Mayor Michael Hancock did not return an inquiry for comment. Denver police pointed to a statement released by the Department of Public Safety: The Denver protests in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder were unprecedented – the city had never seen that level of sustained violence and destruction before. We were prepared for a worst-case scenario, but we weren't fully prepared for what transpired. Unfortunately, Denver Police Department officers and other law enforcement officers responding to assist encountered extreme destructive behavior from some agitators among largely peaceful protestors. We recognize that some mistakes were made.
Well before the trial and beginning in 2021, the Department of Safety and the DPD reflected on how we fell short, where we could improve, and how we can better support our community moving forward. Based upon what we have learned, we have made specific changes to how the Police Department will respond if protests erupt in violence in the future, and those changes were being implemented prior to any litigation. Those changes include:
• We eliminated the use of 40 mm less-lethal equipment for purposes of crowd control.
• We have changed the way officers are permitted to use pepper balls for purposes of crowd management.
• Less lethal equipment training enhanced to help ensure appropriate use in crowd control settings and understanding of commands.
• All officers have received additional training on crowd control response and rapid deployment vehicle tactics.
