Family of Black girls handcuffed by Colorado police, held at gunpoint reach $1.9 million settlement [View all]

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/family-of-black-girls-handcuffed-by-colorado-police-held-at-gunpoint-reach-1-9-million-settlement/ar-BB1hONg6

DENVER (AP) — The Black girls lay facedown in a parking lot, crying “no” and “mommy” as a police officer who had pointed her gun at them then bent down to handcuff two of their wrists. The youngest wore a pink tiara as she held onto her teenage cousin’s hand.

The 6-year-old Lovely watched as her mother, Brittney Gilliam, was led to a patrol car in handcuffs after she shouted in frustration at the police, who mistakenly believed the car she was driving was stolen.

Three years later, Gilliam has agreed to a $1.9 million settlement with city officials in the Denver suburb of Aurora to resolve a lawsuit that claimed the police officers’ actions were evidence of “profound and systematic” racism, a lawyer for the family, David Lane, announced Monday.

“I feel like those kids deserve everything for what they were put through, not just me,” Gilliam said prior to the settlement.

A spokesperson for the city of Aurora city did not immediately comment Monday on the settlement.

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This settlement also marks the latest Aurora has been forced to pay out over police misconduct. The city settled for $15 million in 2021 with the parents of Elijah McClain. He was a 23-year-old Black man who was killed in 2019 after he was stopped as he walked down the street, placed in a neck hold and injected with a sedative. One police officer was also convicted in his death and two others have been acquitted. Two paramedics were also convicted.