Police Misconduct Lawsuit Loans

Keith Cooper, who spent more than eight years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of an armed robbery in Elkhart, announced Wednesday he will receive $7.5 million in a settlement agreement with the city. Cooper’s settlement is the largest amount awarded to a plaintiff in a wrongful conviction lawsuit in Indiana, according to the University of Michigan’s Exoneration Registry, and marks the end of his legal saga, which was chronicled by the South Bend Tribune and ProPublica. Cooper, now 46, was pardoned in 2017 by Gov. Eric Holcomb. Cooper’s co-defendant in the 1996 robbery, Christopher Parish, was exonerated and awarded nearly $5 million in a 2014 settlement. Earlier this month, Andrew Royer filed a lawsuit saying police and prosecutors coerced him into a false confession. A handful of other cases against the Elkhart Police Department are pending. Elkhart County:Man wrongfully convicted of 2002 murder sues police, prosecutor "It's been a… Read more

Congress on Thursday gave final approval to legislation guaranteeing that people who experience sexual harassment at work can seek recourse in the courts, a milestone for the #MeToo movement that prompted a national reckoning on the way sexual misconduct claims are handled. The measure, which is expected to be signed by President Joe Biden, bars employment contracts from forcing people to settle sexual assault or harassment cases through arbitration rather than in court, a process that often benefits employers and keeps misconduct allegations from becoming public. Significantly, the bill is retroactive, nullifying that language in contracts nationwide and opening the door for people who had been bound by it to take legal action. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has spearheaded the effort, called it “one of the most significant workplace reforms in American history. Gillibrand said the arbitration process is secretive and biased and denies people a basic constitutional right: a… Read more

In the summer of 2020, the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis Police Department officer precipitated widespread protests and amplified calls for policing reform. This killing came after years of high-profile deaths of Black civilians—including Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Stephon Clark, among others—during encounters with police, and refocused efforts among policymakers at all levels of government to increase police accountability and transparency. At the federal level, Congress was considering major reforms related to policing practices and law enforcement accountability, though legislators were unable to reach an agreement on a final bill.(1) The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act would have, among several other provisions, established national standards for police use of force, required state and local law enforcement agencies to report use-of-force data, and created a nationwide registry for police misconduct to make it more difficult for officers to change jurisdictions after committing misconduct. In the last several… Read more

Eighty-one Chicago police officers lost their badges over the past 20 years, but only after being investigated for 1,706 previous offenses – an average of 21 accusations per officer. One third (28) of these Chicago officers were investigated for domestic altercations or sexual misconduct. Two murdered their wives. That statistical picture emerges from records obtained by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. As a nonprofit journalism organization, we depend on your support to fund more than 170 reporting projects every year on critical global and local issues. Donate any amount today to become a Pulitzer Center Champion and receive exclusive benefits! The records show that before passage of a new criminal justice reform law earlier this year, Illinois largely failed to hold police accountable for their misconduct over the previous two decades. And even though that new reform law strengthens accountability, a major… Read more

Riverside County paid $900,000 to settle a lawsuit against the county and former sheriff Stan Sniff brought by three men and a woman who allege they were molested as children by a sheriff’s investigator who took his own life 12 years ago. The lawsuit accused Sniff, who left office in early 2019 after losing a re-election bid to current Sheriff Chad Bianco, of a “calculated and conscientious” cover-up of Kevin Duffy’s “depraved behavior.” Duffy was never charged with a crime, but Sniff allowed Duffy to go free though investigators wanted to arrest him, the lawsuit filed in federal court alleged. Reached via email, Sniff declined to comment. County spokesperson Brooke Federico said in an email that the settlement was finalized in July. She declined further comment…. Read more

Lawyers for a female police officer at Central Connecticut State University said she has obtained a settlement of $1.75 million against the University, claiming the university “fostered an environment in its police department where police sexual misconduct and even sexual assault was the norm, emboldening a fellow officer to rape her on three separate occasions.” The lawsuit also claimed that members of the police department “sexually harassed female undergraduate students,” and that one officer who was later promoted to sergeant “openly pursued a sexual relationship with an undergraduate student.”… Read more

New York City has shelled out $384 million in taxpayer funds to settle cases of police misconduct over the past five years — and more than half of the suits brought against officers didn’t even go to trial, a Post analysis has found. Some of the settled cases involved allegations of wrongful imprisonment or police brutality. But others were seemingly nuisance suits of the kind that Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed in January 2015 to crack down on. Hizzoner said then that he would aggressively challenge “ambulance-chasing lawyers” who “try to make a buck by gaming the system. “The court process is long, it’s complicated, it’s costly. But we’ll do that to send a clear message that this has got to stop,” he said. Several lawyers who regularly file misconduct suits against the NYPD said de Blasio’s edict has led the city’s lawyers to take a tougher stand during negotiations…. Read more

The city of Detroit has paid out $19.1 million to settle claims of police misconduct since 2015, 7 Action News has learned. The payouts stem from allegations of wrongful arrest, assault and battery, destruction of property and more. “$19 million? That impacts every single citizen in the city of Detroit,” said Reginald Crawford, a retired Detroit police officer who recently completed a term on the city’s Board of Police Commissioners. “The city knows they’re liable, they’re on the hook for something," he said…. Read more

The settlement between the Justine Ruszczyk family and the city of Minneapolis for $20 million after former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor fatally shot her in 2017 is the largest in city history. A jury convicted Noor of murder and manslaughter charges in the death of Ruszczyk, who was also known as Justine Damond. She had called police the night of July 15, 2017 to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her Minneapolis home. According to the settlement, the family will donate $2 million to a safe communities fund. It is not the first time cities have paid settlements to settle police officer misconduct cases. Prior to Friday's settlement with the Ruszczyk family, the city of Minneapolis had paid out more than $24 million in police misconduct related settlements, claims and judgments since 2003…. Read more

The city of Baltimore has paid about $5.7 million since 2011 over lawsuits claiming that police officers brazenly beat up alleged suspects. One hidden cost: The perception that officers are violent can poison the relationship between residents and police…. Read more