During the May 2020 George Floyd demonstrations, plaintiffs were beaten with batons and sprayed with chemicals while lawfully exercising their First Amendment rights.
BOSTON — It has been nearly six years since the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer set off a summer of nationwide demonstrations against police brutality. Unfortunately, in Boston—as in many other cities across the country—those protests went on to inspire further police brutality, as law enforcement officers employed excessive force and unreasonably violent crowd control measures against the very people calling for an end to police violence.
Yesterday, the City of Boston settled a lawsuit brought by four such protesters who allege they were beaten and pepper-sprayed by Boston police officers while lawfully exercising their First Amendment rights on May 31, 2020. Three of the plaintiffs were beaten with wooden riot batons. Two were sprayed with pepper spray. Three out of four submitted video recordings of their assaults as evidence. None of the four plaintiffs had committed—or were charged with—any crime.
According to the settlement reached yesterday, the City of Boston agreed to pay $850,000 to settle the claims brought by Jasmine Huffman, Justin Ackers, Caitlyn Hall, and Benjamin Chambers-Maher.
“What happened that night will always be with me, but I am grateful that I was able to bring these issues to the federal court. I hope that the outcome leads to meaningful reform within the Boston Police Department,” said Ms. Huffman.
The defendants in this lawsuit included Officers Michael Burke, Edward Joseph Nolan, and Michael H. McManus of the Boston Police Department, and the City of Boston itself.
“Our clients filed this lawsuit for the same reason they were on the Common that night in the first place: to stand up against police violence,” says attorney Mark Loevy-Reyes, of the Boston office for civil rights law firm Loevy + Loevy. “The message sent today is the same one they were sending that night: we all have a right to expect better of our law enforcement officers.”
According to the complaint, Off. Burke allegedly struck Mr. Ackers from behind, striking him to the ground, while he was peacefully attempting to leave the area as instructed by police. The incident was captured on Burke’s bodycam.
Early on the evening of May 31, Ms. Huffman was recorded in the act of defending a police officer from possible violence, putting her own body between the officer and a crowd of angry protesters. Nevertheless, later in the evening—while Ms. Huffman had her hands raised before an approaching line of police—Off. Burke struck her brutally with his riot baton, hitting her just below her neck and knocking her to the pavement. This incident was also captured on bodycam video.
Ms. Hall had left the protest on the Common when she and other peaceful protesters were stopped by a blockade of law enforcement officers in Downtown Crossing. The protesters stood peacefully with their arms raised, but when Ms. Hall saw Off. Nolan preparing to strike a young man standing beside her recording, she attempted to intervene, only to have the officer turn on her instead. According to the complaint, he beat her in the face and chest with his baton, and she briefly lost consciousness.
Mr. Chambers-Maher, a disabled veteran, was also in the process of leaving the protest when he was allegedly assaulted by Off. McManus. As Mr. Chambers-Maher walked towards his car in the North End, McManus and other officers approached him on bicycles with weapons drawn. He recorded the officers as he backed away, and was twice sprayed the face with oleoresin capsicum, commonly known as pepper spray. McManus then used his police bicycle to strike Mr. Chambers-Maher in the legs.
“Our clients were moved by a strong sense of justice to protest police violence,” says long-time Boston civil rights attorney Howard Friedman, another of the plaintiffs’ attorneys. “We are pleased that Boston saw the rightness of settling this lawsuit, and—as I have always hoped for in cases like these—that it will help lead to change and reform.” a message that the city and its officers need to do better going forward.”
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To read the complaint in this case, click here.