In 2020, during a Black Lives Matter protest in The Bronx, police brutally attacked and wrongfully arrested protesters.
Samira Sierra, a former Peace Corps worker, and her sister Amali Sierra, a doula, were among the five plaintiffs who won a lawsuit against the New York Police Department.
Along with 300 others, they will receive $21,500 each as part of a settlement that could cost the city between $4 million to $6 million.
The police were accused of surrounding protesters, hitting them with batons and pepper spray, and using plastic zip ties to restrain them for violating a citywide curfew.
Samira Sierra stated that the city “made an explicit statement that day that the people of the Bronx are at will to be terrorized.”
Meanwhile, Amali Sierra described the settlement as “a reminder that this institution is not built to protect black and brown communities.”
The sisters are part of a group that includes Ricardo Nigaglioni, Alex Gutierrez, and Charles Wood, who were all wrongfully brutalized by the police during the 2020 protest.
The lawsuit alleged that the police acted under the direction of city leaders, including then-Mayor Bill de Blasio and former Police Chief Terence Monahan.
These leaders tried to suppress the protests with well-orchestrated operations that violently arrested and corralled protesters.
The police violated the protesters’ First Amendment right to freedom of expression and their Fourteenth Amendment rights to equal protection of the laws.
The settlement agreement will also provide $2,500 to each class member given a Desk Appearance ticket and all reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.
Lawyers are seeking an additional $2.5 million for those fees. The settlement is expected to be finalized in October, and victims are likely to receive compensation before the end of the year.
The New York Police Department has revised its policies and training for large-scale demonstrations based on internal reviews and recommendations from three outside agencies investigating police actions following the 2020 mass protests.
»Samira Sierra wins lawsuit against the New York Police Department«
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