New York City Agrees to Pay $13.7 Million to George Floyd Protesters

New York City agreed to pay $13.7 million to demonstrators arrested or assaulted by the police in 2020 during the George Floyd protests, according to court records.

The city said in a federal court filing Wednesday it would pay more than 1,300 protesters who said they had been beaten and arrested. They protested at different city locations during the mass demonstrations and would each receive at least $9,950. 

A judge needs to approve the settlement.

The New York protesters joined demonstrators across the country in May and June 2020 who marched through the streets to denounce Floyd’s death and condemn police brutality. A video of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, dying under a Minneapolis police officer’s bended knee drew outcry and sparked the protests.

The class-action lawsuit was one of several cases New York became entangled in after some police officers aggressively handled protesters condemning Floyd’s killing. More than 300 demonstrators were arrested. The city in a separate case agreed in February to pay millions of dollars to protesters who say they were brutalized by police officers in the Bronx.

The proposed settlement is among the largest a city would pay out to settle lawsuits over police behavior at the Floyd protests. Philadelphia agreed in March to pay $9.25 million to more than 300 demonstrators. A federal jury in Colorado last year ordered Denver to pay $14 million to a dozen protesters who had clashed with the police in 2020. Other cities, including San Diego and Worcester, Mass., have faced similar lawsuits.

The nationwide demonstrations occasionally turned violent. Some protesters looted businesses. Some of the officers tackled protesters, beat them with batons or pepper sprayed them. The riots and Floyd’s death prompted some police departments and lawmakers to initiate policing reforms.

The protesters set to receive the settlement from New York said their actions hadn’t warranted arrests. They filed their lawsuit in 2021 in New York’s Southern District against the city, dozens of police department members and former mayor Bill de Blasio. They said de Blasio and other city officials had defended the police’s use of force.

De Blasio didn’t immediately return a request for comment. The New York Police Department referred a comment request to New York City’s law department, which didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

Savitri Durkee, one of the protesters in the class-action lawsuit, said in a statement, “I’m going to spend the next few months making sure this settlement reaches every single activist in the class and I’m going right back in the street—and the First Amendment is my permit.”

Elena Cohen, a lawyer representing the protesters, said, “This historic settlement shows that people demanding racial justice in New York City cannot, and will not, be silenced.”

Write to Alyssa Lukpat at [email protected]