NYC Will Pay $13M To Arrested George Floyd Protesters

New York City will shell out $13 million to protesters who were arrested by NYPD officers during the 2020 demonstrations over the murder of George Floyd.

Nearly 1,400 people arrested in the protests can receive at least $9,950 under an historic settlement to a class action lawsuit unveiled late Wednesday in a Manhattan federal court.

The settlement — covers 18 protests across the city between May 28, 2020, and June 4, 2020 — pointedly doesn't include an admission of wrongdoing for the NYPD's widely criticized and often brutal response to the protests.

But many of the suit's plaintiffs and attorneys cast the settlement as the smoke from the fires of police brutality. One plaintiff, Adama Sow, recounted how their group of marchers was trapped by police without warning, arrested and held in a sweltering correctional bus for hours as their hands turned purple from zip tie cuffs.

"It was so disorganized, but so intentional," Sow said. "They seemed set on traumatizing everyone."