Detroit reaches $1M settlement to protesters for violent 2020 clashes

City of Detroit to pay $1 million settlement to protesters for violent 2020 clashes

Detroit Will Breathe declined to comment on the settlement. The group’s attorney said she can’t comment because she says she has not received any type of formal word from the city yet.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - The city of Detroit has reached a proposed settlement of more than $1 million after protesters sued over alleged abuse during the summer of 2020.

The activist group "Detroit Will Breathe" which led protests downtown following the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota, filed the federal lawsuit.

"The pain was blinding and the wind had been knocked out of me with kicks to my kidneys," said one protester in June, 2020.

"My eye was cut open with a punch to the face, I don’t understand why I was attacked so viciously," said another back in August of 2020.

In the summer of 2020, there were clashes with police and protesters with instances of police brutality in Detroit captured on video during protests prompted by the murder of Floyd, who was Black, at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin.

Two years later comes a proposed settlement of more than a million dollars - the majority of that will go to Detroit Will Breathe. The community activist group that organized the daily protests.

Detroit City Commissioners voted to unanimously to approve the settlement on Tuesday.

Detroit Will Breathe declined to comment on the settlement. The group’s attorney said she can’t comment because she says she has not received any type of formal word from the city yet.

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The founder of the group spoke about the importance of accountability back in August of 2020.

"We have a problem and that problem continues to exist," said Tristan Taylor. "Which is why we have to push hard for police accountability and transparency."