Woman Beaten By Police Will Get $2M From Philadelphia

Woman Beaten By Police Will Get $2M From Philadelphia

Introduction

A Philadelphia woman who was pulled from her vehicle and beaten by the police will be paid $2 million by the city.

According to the court documents, the incident took place on October 27, 2020, when the woman, her 2-year-old son, and the 16-year-old son of a friend were driving through West Philadelphia. While driving, she came across the protesters who were blocking the street. The police officers ordered her to turn back her vehicle. While turning the vehicle, the woman stopped to make sure that she does not hit any of the protesters.

Eventually, the police officers swarmed her car, broke the windows and opened the door to pull out the woman and the 16-year-old with her and started hitting them. Her 2-year-old son was taken away from her during the incident.

The settlement does not include the teen. The woman even accused that the police used the photo of her son for pro-police messaging on social media. The post was later taken down after the real story was revealed.

The woman suffered from swelling on her face, body and trachea. The incident was captured on a cellphone camera that helped the incident to come to light. Officers involved in the incident will undergo disciplinary actions, and two of them have been terminated.

Earlier, a jury awarded a $5.9 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit to the family of a man who died in police custody.

The victim was a 38-year-old man living with his parents in the City of Pleasanton. He was suffering from a mental health crisis. His parents notified Paranoid personality disorder of him to officials as they were afraid that their son might encounter police officials and be killed in their custody, considering that some individuals died in such circumstances.

As per the court documents, PPD officers responded to a call where the victim was talking to himself at a grocery store. The victim had broken some bottles at the shop and was cooperative at the beginning, but suddenly stopped responding and just stared blankly at a distance. The officers responded to the situation by handcuffing, punching and piling on the victim.

Additional forces of officers entered the scenario and piled up on the victim. The victim started screaming and resisting the arrest as it can be heard on the video footage of the scenario. Eventually, the victim started to suffocate from the force of eight police officers. Suddenly, the victim stopped responding, and the officers realised he was no more breathing.

The jury showed grief over the victim's death and even showed concern over the unimaginable loss of the family, but the city's settlement agreement will surely give some relief to the family.