As the New York Times reports
The city has agreed to pay nearly $600,000 to settle allegations that police wrongfully arrested a group of Occupy Wall Street protesters, marking the largest settlement to date in an Occupy-related civil rights lawsuit, the marchers’ lawyers said Tuesday.
Of course that’s not true. Both Scott Olsen, who received a $4.5 million settlement, and Kayvan Sebeghi, who received $645,000, got larger settlements. However, this settlement is the largest settlement so far in New York City and likely anywhere else in the country with the exception of Oakland. The Times report continues:
The $583,000 pact involves 14 demonstrators who said police ordered them to leave but prevented them from doing so and arrested them in lower Manhattan early on New Year’s Day 2012…
“The police, led by supervising officers, stopped peaceful protesters on the sidewalk, surrounded them with a blue wall of police, told them to disperse, and then arrested them before they possibly could,” one of their lawyers, Wylie Stecklow, said in a statement. “This was an unacceptable violation of basic constitutional rights.”
These violations seem similar to OPD’s mass arrest of Oscar Grant protesters in 2010, and the J28 mass arrests of some 400 Occupy Oaklanders in 2012 on ‘Move-In Day.’ A lawsuit regarding the Oscar Grant mass arrests was settled last year for more than $1,000,000, but came out to less than $10,000 per arrestee. Contrast that to this Occupy Wall Street settlement which is more than $40,000 per person.
The J28 lawsuit is still ongoing.
While i in no way deny the right of victims of Police repression to settle in these cases I would like to at least sometimes see these suits go to trial . It’s obvious that the State whether in NYC or Oakland would rather throw $ in the millions than have it’s armed goons (and more importantly the politicians whom they really serve and protect ) be exposed in Open Court.
I understand the risks of doing so , perhaps losing and getting nothing. And i understand that often the money sought is urgently needed (like for Scott Olsen’s possible lifelong Medical needs ) .
But to see these criminals sweat it out on the witness stand like in the case brought by James Cotton’s family * at least is some justice .
My two cents.
* James Cotton was a Homeless man beaten to death by the Eureka PD in Humboldt County .
The family won the Federal Civil trial which was held in Oakland.