Court of Appeals unanimously affirms trial jury’s 2022 verdict, agreeing that “Denver inadequately trained its officers”
DENVER — Just over four years ago, a federal jury found that, during the 2020 George Floyd protests, the Denver Police Department used excessive force when it indiscriminately attacked crowds of peaceful protestors with tear gas grenades, pepper ball guns, flash bang explosives, 40mm projectile launchers, lead pellets fired from shotguns, and other so-called “less-lethal” munitions. A jury of six men and six women took just four hours to deliberate before awarding 12 individual plaintiffs a total of $14.75 million in damages.
This was the first trial—and the first win—in a number of lawsuits filed over police misconduct during the protests that erupted across the country during the summer of 2020. Since that verdict, the City and County of Denver have settled several more lawsuits filed over its police department’s misconduct during those protests, including a $4.2 million settlement in 2023 to protesters arrested under Denver’s nighttime curfew imposed during the protests, and a $2.5 million settlement in 2025 to another group of protesters.
Denver appealed the $14 million verdict, however, asserting (among other grounds) that there was insufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict that Denver’s deliberate failure to train its officers was responsible for the abuses of constitutional rights the plaintiffs suffered.
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit unanimously upheld the original verdict.
“We reject Denver’s arguments and uphold the jury’s verdict,” the Court’s opinion says. “We do so based specifically on the jury’s finding that Denver inadequately trained its officers.” The panel also noted that a new chief of police had reduced the training officers received in the lead up to the protests, and held that the jury was justified in crediting the expert testimony plaintiffs presented “that it was ‘utterly predictable’ that DPD would need to prepare for ‘a large scale civil justice protest.'”
Elizabeth Wang, a partner with the civil rights law firm of Loevy + Loevy, led the litigation in several successful Denver protest lawsuits, and represents five of the 12 plaintiffs in this suit.
“We are pleased the appellate court affirmed the jury’s verdict, and denied Denver’s attempts to shirk responsibility for the abuses of its officers,” says Wang. “Our clients bravely stood up in the streets against police brutality in 2020, and they’ve been doing it ever since in the courts. Plaintiffs and the jury sent a strong message to the city that it needs to do a better job of training its officers in the future, to make sure this never happens again.”
The panel also held that the jury appropriately heard testimony from Denver’s Independent Monitor, who was tasked with ensuring police accountability, and who issued a scathing 94-page report on the DPD’s response to the protests in December 2020. The Independent Monitor’s investigation cited numerous cases of inappropriate force being used against protesters without sufficient warning—often by officers with insufficient training in the weapons they were using—and stated that the available video did not show any justification for such actions. “The damage to trust between officers and the community that resulted from the (protests) is impossible to quantify,” the report concluded.
That report recommended several reforms and policy changes for Denver law enforcement, including banning certain weapons, creating stricter rules for the use of violence, and providing more training on crowd control.
“The compensation for the individual plaintiffs—for their injuries, trauma, and the violations of their rights—is important,” says Wang, of today’s ruling. “But more important is the message this sends to the City of Denver, and police forces across the country: the police cannot use excessive force against peaceful demonstrators whose message they disagree with.”
Plaintiffs Sara Fitouri, Jacquelyn Parkins, Elle (Kelsey) Taylor, Claire Sannier, and Joe Deras were represented by Elizabeth Wang of Loevy + Loevy. Plaintiffs Elisabeth Epps, Ashlee Wedgeworth, Zachary Packard, Amanda Blasingame, Maya Rothlein, Stanford Smith, and Hollis Lyman were represented by attorneys from the ACLU of Colorado and the law firm of Arnold & Porter.
###
lick here for the appellate court’s opinion.