Freddie Gray, spine severed, days before he died
On September 8, it was announced that the city of Baltimore
reached a $6.4 million settlement with the family of Freddie Gray following his wrongful death in police custody. This comes after the city
already paid Dondi Johnson $7.4 million, and Jeffrey Alston $39 million. Each of them ended up fully paralyzed after encounters with the Baltimore police.
New York City announced a $5.9 million settlement with Eric Garner's family. The family of Sean Bell was paid $7 million after the New York Police Department shot and killed him on his wedding day. Abner Louima was paid $8.75 million after being brutalized and sexually assaulted by the NYPD.
From 2000 to 2010, New York City spent more than $1 billion to settle police brutality cases. Over the past five years, the city has shelled out an additional $500 million.
Chicago just announced a settlement with the family of Laquan McDonald for at least $5 million in his wrongful death. This was followed by the same city announcing a multi-million dollar reparations fund for men and women who had been tortured by their police. Before that, Chicago paid $4.5 million to the family of Rekia Boyd.
In all, cash-strapped Chicago has spent over $500 million on police brutality settlements since 2004.
What's wild is that in spite of billions of dollars being spent after people are brutally murdered and assaulted by police, most law enforcement agencies in cities like New York, Chicago, and Baltimore still don't have body cameras. They often cite the cost of starting such a program as being a prohibitive factor. But the truth is that most departments could outfit their entire force with the cost of just a few settlements.
What's actually behind the delay in getting them is far more nefarious. Police don't want body cameras because they prefer to concoct their own stories when they're in a crunch. Cities don't want them because they know cameras will likely raise the amount they have to spend on settlements for police brutality, instead of lessening it.
In other words, local governments prefer the system just the way it is. Few police are ever prosecuted and, in most cases, little evidence exists to contradict police when they use lethal force.