AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin City Council on Thursday voted to settle three lawsuits relating to injuries sustained during the 2020 social justice protests.
The council voted on Feb. 23 to pay a total of $1.5 million to three different protesters who were injured by Austin Police Department (APD) officers in May 2020. The three protestors were in Downtown Austin during the citywide protests following the death of George Floyd.
APD officers used less-lethal rounds during the protests, commonly referred to as "beanbag rounds." This resulted in multiple protestors filing lawsuits against the City and APD for injuries that the rounds caused.
This new round of settlements comes after seven settlements were reached by the City with a variety of demonstrators who were injured during the protests. These previous lawsuits totaled $14.475 million paid to protesters.
The three settlements approved on Thursday were:
- $375,000 to Jason Gallagher, a Travis County resident who stated that he was pepper sprayed by two APD officers, hit in the back by a third officer's baton and pushed
- $450,000 to Steven Arawn, a Travis County resident who said APD shot his wrist and hand with a beanbag round while he was providing help to a fallen protestor, leaving him seriously injured
- $675,000 to Nicole Underwood, a Hays County resident who stated APD shot her in her torso with one of the beanbag rounds
In the summer months of 2022, APD conducted an internal review as a way to assess departmental strengths and find spots to improve upon following the protests. The report found 17 "critical areas of analysis," which included de-escalation techniques and training, improvements to the mobile field of force and training for an integrated response across multiple APD units.
APD has continued to review and analyze the protests and officers' response since the summer of 2020.