PHILADELPHIA – The City of Philadelphia will pay $9.25 million to settle claims in four lawsuits which alleged the Philadelphia Police Department used excessive force on more than 300 plaintiffs, during peaceful demonstrations on systemic racism and police brutality at 52nd Street and the Vine Street Expressway in 2020.
Counsel for the plaintiffs filed the four suits in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in July 2020 versus the City of Philadelphia and up to 100 John Doe Philadelphia Police Department officers.
In Smith Et.Al v. City of Philadelphia Et.Al, 11 plaintiffs charged that in response to protesting and looting on 52nd Street in West Philadelphia on May 31, police officers indiscriminately fired rubber bullets, tear gas and pepper spray at protestors of police brutality, innocent bystanders and residents in a majority Black neighborhood.
Subsequently, a number of individuals were injured both inside and outside of their homes, the suit stated, and in some cases had to evacuate their residences in order to seek medical attention for injuries related to tear gas exposure.
These actions were said to violate the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights to peaceably assemble and express their views, Fourth Amendment rights to not be subjected to excessive force by the police and Fourteenth Amendment rights to not face discrimination under the equal protection clause.
Lead named plaintiff Anthony Smith, then 29 years old and a Black resident of the neighborhood close to 52nd Street, alleged he was arrested near 11 p.m. in the evening on May 31, 2020 and driven around in police custody for four hours, until arriving at the 22nd District North Philadelphia police precinct at 3 a.m. on June 1.
At the station, he said he was in custody there for barely 15 minutes when he was cited for violating curfew and released – thereby putting him in danger of being arrested again for violating curfew, since public transportation was closed for the night and he was forced to walk home.
“The events of May 31, 2020 represent yet another act of city-sanctioned violence endured by the Black community in West Philadelphia. Law enforcement has a long history of engaging in overly harsh tactics and racist violence against residents of West Philadelphia – most notably, the police bombing of the homes of MOVE members and their neighbors in 1985,” Cara McClellan of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund said.
“City officials must be held accountable for these militaristic police actions, which are discriminatory, illegal and completely unacceptable. Our clients deserve safety and security in their own neighborhood and to be free of fear of discrimination and police terror.”
“While the mayor has apologized for the treatment of protesters on Interstate 676, he continues to ignore and dismiss the horrifying police attacks against Black protestors and residents in West Philadelphia, further demonstrating how underlying racial discrimination often dictates whether police are held accountable for their actions.” Smith himself said.
“The irony is that PPD has responded to protests of police brutality, racial discrimination, and excessive force, with further brutality, discrimination and excessive force.”
In Weltch Et.Al v. City of Philadelphia Et.Al, 41 plaintiffs asserted “an extraordinary abuse of police power” by both the Philadelphia Police Department and Pennsylvania State Police, who fired tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bang grenades at them and many other protestors, according to videos taken at the scene.
Though the officers claimed they were attempting to disperse thousands of people who had ventured onto I-676 and obstructed traffic, video evidence showed that members of the police fired onto people attempting to leave I-676 and who had become trapped on a grassy embankment leading up to the Vine Street Expressway.
Lead named plaintiff Delane Weltch, 36, is a Black journalist from New Jersey who claimed he was both wounded in his legs by rubber bullets and shot with tear gas on the Vine Street Expressway. Welch alleged he sustained immediate pain, vomiting and trauma, in addition to suffering migraines for two weeks following the incident.
“In response to protests and a national conversation about police accountability and an end to a long history of police brutality, the Philadelphia Police Department reacted with more brutality. Our firm dates back to 1971. We cannot recall a single episode in which the Philadelphia police used munitions like this in a peaceful protest,” plaintiff counsel Jonathan Feinberg said.
Both actions were filed in connection with other attorneys who filed separate complaints in Hough Et.Al. v. City of Philadelphia Et.Al and Zolitor v. City of Philadelphia Et.Al, which also sought accountability for both incidents on 52nd Street and the Vine Street Expressway, on behalf of hundreds of additional plaintiffs.
Though City officials first defended police actions, the City went on to apologize for the I-676 incident through Mayor Jim Kenney and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, the latter of whom subsequently announced changes in police procedure.
UPDATE
After more than two-and-a-half years of litigation, during which time the City never formally answered the lawsuits, and ongoing discussions, counsel for the plaintiffs announced the terms of a settlement on March 20, overseen by U.S. Magistrate Judge David R. Strawbridge.
“Plaintiffs and defendants, without conceding any infirmity in their claims or defenses, have engaged in settlement negotiations to resolve the claims raised in this litigation,” Strawbridge said in a consent order accompanying the settlement.
“Defendants agree to the entry of this consent order for the purpose of settlement, and nothing contained herein may be taken as or construed to be an admission or concession of any violation of law or regulation, or of any other matter of fact or law, or of any liability or wrongdoing, all of which defendants deny. No part of this consent order, including its statements and commitments, shall constitute evidence of any liability, fault or wrongdoing by defendants.”
The settlement terms, which apply to all four cases, are as follows:
• The City of Philadelphia has agreed to pay monetary damages totaling $9,250,000 to those collectively harmed by the Philadelphia Police Department’s conduct in the summer of 2020, one of the largest settlements of its kind in Philadelphia history;
• The City removed itself from the 1033 Program, a federal program which arms state and local law enforcement with military weapons and equipment, in the spring of 2021. Beginning this spring, the City has committed to meet every six months with the West Philadelphia community until May 2025, to present data around the Department’s use of force and respond to questions and comments from the community.
• Finally, the City has also agreed to commit $500,000 to a fund that will provide interdisciplinary, trauma-informed counseling to victims of police violence and provide support for and promote community-led programming in the aftermath of police violence and misconduct. The funds will be distributed through a community-led grant making process administered by Bread & Roses, a leading funder of grassroots organizing for racial, social and economic justice in the Philadelphia region.
Plaintiff Shahidah Mubarak-Hadi offered comment on the case settlement.
“Today’s monetary compensation is an important step, but it does not represent full accountability for the harm that occurred. Police fired tear gas at our family’s home, leaving my three year-old son crying and my six year-old son completely terrified. The house was enclosed in gas, and we were trapped inside with nowhere to go. The City still has not given us a simple apology, and it must properly acknowledge this egregious act before true healing can begin. I pray this settlement will change how the city and its police force deal with those they are supposed to protect and serve,” Mubarak-Hadi said.
Co-plaintiff Amelia Carter concurred with Mubarak-Hadi.
“Instead of protecting us, the Philadelphia Police Department waged war in our streets, tear-gassed us and shot us with rubber bullets. By blanketing a community with tear gas, they haphazardly attacked law-abiding citizens in their homes and on their sidewalks. There should be no place for the militarization of a police department that is supposed to serve us. The disengagement from the 1033 Program, which arms law enforcement with military equipment, is a welcome start that prioritizes our safety. This settlement represents a significant stride in preventing the police department from being granted the authority to act against its own citizens in the future,” Carter stated.
Members of plaintiff counsel also commented on the historic settlement.
“In the midst of historic racial justice protests calling out the systemic injustices and anti-Black racism perpetuated by law enforcement, the Philadelphia Police Department did not simply harm and terrorize individual people exercising their right to protest. It inflicted wanton violence and devastated a predominantly Black community,” Legal Defense Fund Deputy Director of Litigation Rachel Kleinman said.
“We believe that today’s settlement represents a long-overdue and frank recognition of the stark violence inflicted on these Philadelphia residents and protestors by police, and the continued significance of their calls, along with calls around the nation, for racial justice and police accountability. We hope that it provides a measure of healing to those harmed by police violence in 2020 and beyond.”
McClellan agreed.
“Often, settlements come in the form of compensating a harmed person without accounting for the damage that police violence does to the whole community. This settlement, however, features a recognition of the damage the Philadelphia Police Department has done throughout West Philadelphia and it communicates the importance of centering the community in a path towards healing. Today’s settlement sets an important precedent for accountability in future cases,” McClellan said.
Kenney and Outlaw also issued statements on the settlement.
“The pain and trauma caused by a legacy of systemic racism and police brutality against Black and Brown Philadelphians is immeasurable. While this is just one step in the direction toward reconciliation, we hope this settlement will provide some healing from the harm experienced by people in their neighborhoods in West Philadelphia and during demonstrations on I-676 in 2020,” Kenney said.
“The mass demonstrations that took place in Philadelphia and across the nation in response to the murder of George Floyd were unprecedented in scope. The Philadelphia Police Department is a learning organization, and we remain dedicated to moving forward in meaningful and productive ways. Along with city, state and community stakeholders, we will continue to work non-stop towards improving what we as police do to protect the First Amendment rights of protestors, keep our communities and officers safe, and to ultimately prove that we are committed to a higher standard,” Outlaw added.
The plaintiffs were represented by David Rudovsky, Paul M. Messing, Susan M. Lin and Jonathan H. Feinberg of Kairys Rudovsky Messing Feinberg & Lin in Philadelphia; Alexsis Johnson, Cara McClellan, Rachel Kleinman, Liliana Zaragoza and Charles McLaurin of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund in New York City and Washington, D.C.; Bret Grote, Jamelia Morgan, Nia Holston and Rupalee Rashatwar of the Abolitionist Law Center, in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia; Aarthi Manohar, William E. Hoese, Zahra R. Dean and Craig W. Hillwig of Kohn Swift & Graf, in Philadelphia; Kevin V. Mincey, Thomas O. Fitzpatrick, Riley H. Ross III and Shabrei M. Parker of Mincey Fitzpatrick Ross in Philadelphia; Marni Jo Snyder of the Law Offices of M.J. Snyder in Philadelphia; Michael Coard of the Law Office of Michael Coard in Philadelphia and Paul J. Hetznecker in Philadelphia.
The defendants were represented by Anne B. Taylor, Craig M. Straw and Jonathan Cooper of the City of Philadelphia’s Law Department, plus John P. Gonzales and Joseph J. Santarone Jr. of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, all in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania cases 2:20-cv-03431, 2:20-cv-03432, 2:20-cv-03508 & 2:20-cv-03612
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com