an equal and opposite reaction
Case Details for "Los Angeles Police Department"
LAPD agrees to pay 13 million to people injured or mistreated in a May Day melee in MacArthur Park
Los Angeles City Council agreed to pay nearly $13 million to people injured or mistreated in a May Day melee in MacArthur Park, bringing to more than $30 million the money spent over the last two weeks to settle lawsuits alleging LAPD misconduct.
For the LAPD, Wednesday's $12.85-million payout -- covering most of the claims by immigration demonstrators and bystanders injured May 1, 2007, in MacArthur Park -- has a few strings attached. Under the settlement, the department must submit to court oversight of its crowd control procedures -- another layer of federal involvement that comes as LAPD leaders are impatient to be free of a long-standing and more onerous monitoring program imposed after the Rampart Division corruption scandal. The May Day settlement, approved unanimously by the council, comes a week after members agreed to pay $20.5 million to settle civil rights lawsuits filed by four current and former LAPD officers, three of whom were awarded $15 million by a federal jury after claiming to have been falsely arrested and maliciously prosecuted during the Rampart probe. That sum was on top of more than $75 million the city has paid to civilians affected by the 1999 scandal.
The settlement approved Wednesday will resolve a class action lawsuit and more than half a dozen individual lawsuits in federal court. It accounts for a large portion of the more than 300 May Day claims against the city.
The allegations of police mistreatment and excessive force resulted from clashes in MacArthur Park as an immigration march wound down. Officers from the LAPD's elite Metro Division used batons and fired rubber bullets to disperse what was a predominantly peaceful gathering. Officials said the confrontations were prompted by a group of agitators who threw bottles and other objects at police. Dozens of people, including a number of journalists and police officers, were injured.
Two other May Day cases are pending in federal court, and there are 15 in state court, said a spokesman for the city attorney. Only one related case, involving a broken camera, was settled before this week.
Nick Velasquez, a spokesman for City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo, declined to estimate the expected cost of the remaining litigation. But he said the settlement covered more than 90% of the cases filed in federal court by demonstrators. The agreement covers costs and legal fees, and preempts any of the 5,000 people who had gathered in the park from filing a class-action case in the future, Velasquez said.
Under the terms of the agreement approved Wednesday, the way the LAPD responds to large crowds is cemented in writing. It leaves the department considerable discretion, but nonetheless places limits on when police can break up a gathering and when they can use force on crowds.
Batons, for example, can be used to push -- but not strike -- protesters who refuse a police order to disperse. Less-lethal projectiles, such as rubber bullets and bean bags, can't be used on a peaceful crowd that's retreating, and police helicopters must not disrupt speeches and marches by flying too low.
For at least the next four years the judge who has overseen the May Day settlement negotiations will also watch the department's handling of future protests to ensure that it abides by the agreement. A more sweeping oversight stemming from Rampart has also followed the department for the last several years.
Posted on:2009-02-06
Company: Los Angeles Police Department
Class:
Scope: California
Type of Case: Police Brutality
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