The Denver City Council agreed Monday to pay $399,000 to settle a police misconduct case, bringing the city’s total for such settlements in 2025 to $5.1 million.

Council members unanimously approved five separate resolutions relating to a U.S. District Court case where a group of activists, journalists and YouTubers allege they were the victims of police violence while filming and documenting police activity during the George Floyd protests in 2020.

The plaintiffs allege, according to court documents, that they were tear-gassed, pepper-sprayed, and hit with pepperballs.

According to city documents, the breakdown in resolutions approved for plaintiff settlements is as follows:

Shavonne Blades, $35,000

Brian Loma, $135,000

Winston Noles, $79,000 

John Reed, $77,500 

Elijah Wesbrock, $72,500 

“The payment to Brian Loma for the brutality he endured during the George Floyd protests is just the latest in a long line of payments by Denver for police misconduct during the protests,” attorney Andy McNulty said. “Unfortunately, the taxpayers of Denver are forced to compensate victims for the harms they suffered at the hands of Denver Police Department officers, while officers have suffered no consequences for their actions.” 

District 8 Councilmember Shontel Lewis cautioned that extra attention should be paid to how the city allocates its funds.

“I will note that this funding is drawn from a liability, liability claims pool of money that is refilled when necessary for the city from the city’s general fund, general budget and does not come out of the safety budget,” Lewis said. 

In 2023, the Denver City Council approved six settlements totaling $1 million for three lawsuits brought by people who sued in federal court over the law enforcement response to the 2020 George Floyd protests.

More than $900,000 went to a group of four protesters, who filed the first lawsuit over the city’s response to protests in the summer of 2020 over the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. The protesters alleged Denver police gassed them without warning, shot at them with pepper balls and hit one of them in the head with a 40 mm launcher (though he wore a helmet at the time).