Crime & Law
City Lawyers: Pay $875K to 25 People Who Accused CPD Officers of Misconduct During 2020 Unrest
A protester faces a line of police officers in Chicago on Saturday, May 30, 2020. (Hugo Balta / WTTW News)
The Chicago City Council should agree to pay $875,000 to resolve a lawsuit filed by 25 Chicagoans who each say they were brutalized by Chicago police officers during protests during the summer of 2020 triggered by the police murder of George Floyd, city lawyers recommended.
The City Council’s Finance Committee on Wednesday is set to consider resolving one of three remaining federal lawsuits alleging Chicago police officers committed a wide range of misconduct during the 2020 protests. A final vote of the City Council could come Jan. 21.
In all, Chicago taxpayers have already paid more than $6.8 million to resolve 59 lawsuits identified by WTTW News that were filed by Chicagoans who said they were the victims of misconduct by CPD officers during the protests and unrest, according to federal court documents and records from the Chicago Department of Law.
An additional $5.1 million went to pay private lawyers to defend the conduct of CPD officers from late May until mid-August 2020, one of the most tumultuous periods in Chicago history, according to records obtained by WTTW News through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Two probes found officers beat protesters with batons, doused their faces with pepper spray, used racial slurs and mocked the push for racial justice and police reform. In many cases, that conduct violated protesters’ First Amendment rights and involved unjustified and excessive force, according to the probes.
The lawsuit the City Council is set to consider settling alleges officers repeatedly used excessive force at protests that erupted across the city throughout the summer of 2020 — in the shadow of Trump Tower on May 30; in River North on May 31; in Uptown on June 1; in Grant Park on July 17; and on the Wacker Avenue bridge over the Chicago River on Aug. 15, according to court records.
The proposed settlement now pending before the City Council’s Finance Committee would be the seventh to be resolved for more than $100,000, which must be approved by the Chicago City Council, records show. Settlements of less than that amount can be approved by Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson Lowry, with little or no public oversight.
Chicago taxpayers have already paid more than $679,000 to defend the officers named in the lawsuit lawyers have urged the City Council to settle without a trial.
Court records show that lawyers for the plaintiffs and the city told U.S. District Court Judge Jorge Alonso that they had reached an agreement to settle the case on the same day former Mayor Lori Lightfoot was set to be deposed, and one day before Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling was set to answer questions under oath.
Lawyers for the city lost a bid to limit Lightfoot’s deposition less than a week before the settlement agreement was reached, court records show.
Former Chicago Police Supt. David Brown had been scheduled to be deposed as part of the lawsuit in September, according to court records.
It is unusual for such high-ranking former and current officials to be deposed in ongoing litigation, since their sworn testimony could expose the city to greater liability.
The city’s inspector general concluded that the Chicago Police Department botched nearly every aspect of its response to the protests and unrest. The independent monitoring team charged with enforcing the federal court order requiring CPD to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers found the department was “unprepared for the level of sustained protests and unrest downtown and throughout its neighborhoods.”
In the wake of officers’ actions, Chicago faced “an unprecedented volume of civil litigation,” which required city officials to pay private lawyers to defend the officers named in the lawsuits, according to a statement from the Chicago Department of Law.
That expertise comes at a significant premium, costing Chicago taxpayers four to five times more than in-house lawyers, according to estimates offered during City Council budget hearings where these costs are a perennial sticking point for budget-conscious alderpeople.
It is unclear how many federal lawsuits alleging police misconduct during the summer of 2020 have been dismissed by judges or withdrawn. None of these cases have gone to trial, records show.
It is unclear how many lawsuits alleging officers committed misconduct remain pending in Cook County Circuit Court.
A lawsuit filed by three people who allege they were terrorized and wrongly arrested by Chicago police outside the Brickyard Mall just as the unrest was starting is set to go to trial in April, records show.
The city settled a separate case in 2022 and paid $1.62 million to five people who were pulled from their car by seven Chicago police officers and beaten outside the Brickyard Mall on May 31, 2020.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
