New York City to Pay Up to $6 Million to George Floyd Protesters

New York City has recently agreed to pay up to $6 million to protesters who were allegedly trapped or assaulted by police officers during a George Floyd protest in Mott Haven in 2020. If the settlement is approved by a federal judge, each of the 300-plus protesters will receive about $21,500, which is one of the largest amounts awarded per person in a class-action case related to mass arrests.

According to the lawsuit, in the summer of 2020, after the death of George Floyd, numerous businesses in Manhattan were destroyed by protesters and looters. The demonstrators vandalized storefronts and stole merchandise from many stores. In response to several damaging and expensive protests, former Mayor Bill de Blasio imposed an 8 p.m. curfew in early June to discourage looting. However, on June 4, 2020, approximately 10 minutes after the curfew began, New York Police Department officers allegedly engaged in “kettling” or trapping activists protesting Floyd’s death in a Bronx neighborhood.

Kettling is a crowd control tactic used by law enforcement in which they surround a group of protesters, trapping them within a confined area, typically using physical barriers or a police line. The purpose of kettling is to prevent the protesters from dispersing and to limit their mobility, which allows the police to control the situation more effectively. However, kettling has been criticized for being aggressive and violating the rights of peaceful protesters.

In 2020, New York City police used the crowd control tactic known as “kettling” to confine protesters, and then allegedly used force, including batons and pepper spray. As a result, the city has agreed to pay millions of dollars to hundreds of protesters, with each receiving $21,500 in compensation.

According to the lawsuit, “Many protesters were left injured and bleeding. Some protesters fainted, or lost consciousness and went into convulsions.”

NYPD said in a statement, “Two-and-a-half years after the protests of 2020, much of the NYPD’s policies and training for policing large-scale demonstrations have been re-envisioned based on the findings of the department’s own, self-initiated analyses and on the recommendations from three outside agencies who carefully investigated that period. The NYPD remains committed to continually improving its practices in every way possible.”

The George Floyd protests in New York City occurred in the summer of 2020, following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed during an arrest by Minneapolis police officers. The protests in New York City, like in other parts of the United States, were initially peaceful, however, many protests turned violent, with looting, vandalism, and clashes between protesters and police officers occurring in various parts of the city.

In response to the unrest, former Mayor Bill de Blasio implemented an 8 p.m. curfew in early June to deter looters. However, the police were also criticized for their handling of the protests, particularly in the Bronx neighborhood of Mott Haven, where they allegedly used the kettling tactic to trap and assault protesters. In 2022, the city reached a settlement to pay up to $6 million to over 300 protesters who were allegedly boxed in or beaten by police during the Mott Haven protest.