San Jose: Major lawsuit for 2020 George Floyd protest injuries fully settled

SAN JOSE The remaining plaintiffs in an explosive federal lawsuit accusing police of recklessly injuring them during the George Floyd protests in downtown San Jose five years ago have settled with the city on the eve of trial Four people who claimed they were shot with less-lethal munitions roughed up by police or both reached a tentative agreement with the City Attorney s Office The settlement concludes one of the highest-profile lawsuits from the multi-day argument that shone a harsh spotlight on the San Jose Police Department and its ill-prepared crowd-control measures that forced swift reforms The federal court docket for the Northern District of California certified Thursday that a settlement had been reached two days after co-plaintiffs Derrick Sanderlin his wife and a legal observer arrested during the protests settled their own civil-rights proposes against the city Terms of both sets of settlements which are pending City Council approval later in the year have not been disclosed amid continuing talks between the plaintiffs and city lawyers A federal civil trial for the lawsuit was set to start Friday City Attorney Nora Frimann declined comment on the settlement news citing that the litigation is still ongoing A plaintiff attorney did not respond to a request for comment as of Friday afternoon The plaintiffs in the second round of settlements included then- -year-old Breanna Contreras who declared that during the first day of the downtown protests on May she was peacefully demonstrating near East Santa Clara and Seventh streets near City Hall She claimed that what she concluded was a police projectile officers had fired hard foam rounds and deployed tear gas to disperse crowds hit her in the right temple causing facial and head injuries that lasted for at least a month Nearby Pietro Peter Di Donato years old at the time claimed that he was complying with officers to back up when they fired munitions at demonstrators one of which hit him in his left leg That evening Adira Sharkey claimed that she was peacefully demonstrating and had just given safety advice to a group of teens at the protest when she was hit in the ribs by a police projectile Another plaintiff Joseph JT Stukes was participating in demonstrations on June near City Hall when according to his claim he was rushed by dozens of SJPD officers and that as he tried to leave the scene he was purposely tripped from behind by an officer causing him to fall to the ground Stukes further alleged that while still semi-prone his right leg was hit by a foam round leaving a nine-inch bruise and a separate bean-bag round ripped a hole in his backpack In legal filings ahead of the scheduled trial start city attorneys staked out a position that the four plaintiffs could not prove that what exactly caused their injuries or that their injuries were caused by police Related Articles Wonderful man Hayward man who died in police custody was combat veteran father of Officials identify man revealed dead inside car in Union City San Jose Man dies of injuries he suffered in crash Police identify suspect in San Jose s th homicide of Suspicious device spurs evacuations in Berkeley The lawsuit was headlined by Sanderlin an activist who once provided bias training for San Jose police He asserted that on the first day of protests he was trying to de-escalate tension when he stood between demonstrators protesting the police killing of Floyd in Minneapolis a scant days earlier and a police line near City Hall As he held up his hands and held a sign an officer shot him in the groin with a foam round Sanderlin and his wife Cayla claimed that the resulting injury which ruptured one of his testicles threatened their ability to have children though the latest plaintiff filing states that the couple were able to have a daughter in the ensuing years Another plaintiff who settled Tuesday Vera Clanton was a legal observer with the National Lawyers Guild and claimed her First Amendment rights were violated after she was arrested and manhandled by officers on May The lawsuit was approved for trial by a district judge in March but was held up until last September while the city mounted a challenge with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which eventually upheld the crux of the lawsuit The protests in the summer of which coincided with the early months of the COVID- pandemic have resulted in several high-figure settlements and payouts by the city This past January a federal civil jury awarded a man million for his injuries from being hit in the leg with a police projectile In the city paid million to settle a lawsuit from several people injured during the protests including a bystander who lost his eye to a police round This is a advancing story Check back for updates