City Council committee OKs $750K settlement stemming from George Floyd protest

A divided City Council Finance Committee agreed Monday to pay $750,000 to compensate a man for leg injuries suffered when he was allegedly clubbed by police during the demonstrations that descended into chaos after the 2020 murder of George Floyd.

Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said he’s concerned paying a settlement to Bryan Mejia, who suffered a fractured leg and torn ACL on the Wabash Avenue bridge near Trump Tower, will invite protesters expected to descend on Chicago for the Democratic National Convention in August to wreak havoc, then bombard the city with lawsuits.

“The last thing we want to do is help folks monetize bad behavior. Given all of the organizing that’s being planned to disrupt the convention, my concern is that approving settlements like this could help fuel that fire,” said Reilly, who was on the short end of a 25-6 vote. “As someone who watched our city burn down — not once, but twice [in 2020] — we don’t want to ever see that happen again.”

To underscore his concern, Reilly recalled specifics of the “absolute, unmitigated chaos” that he was “front and center” to witness on May 30, 2020. He said he saw hundreds of protesters “throwing fireworks and bottles at police officers,” pushing officers and surrounding police vehicles, then trying to overturn them.

“It’s difficult going through this exercise of contemplating a settlement for someone who was participating in rallies at that time of day proximate to Trump Tower which became very violent toward our men and women in uniform who, I thought, displayed incredible restraint that day given all that was going on and the violence that was being directed toward them,” Reilly said.

“This individual was on the bridge. This individual should never have been on the bridge. Police were told to hold the line and protect the bridge, which they did nobly for several hours before they were overwhelmed. So it does beg the questions, what activity was this individual engaged in?” he asked.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Deputy Corporation Counsel Caroline Fronczak said there is some video from body-worn and other police cameras of the arrest and detention of Mejia, who claims he was also the target of a racial slur from a police officer. But “due to the chaotic nature of those protests,” many officers were deployed without body cameras.

“Finding body cam of a police officer in that scenario under those circumstances is basically looking for a needle in a haystack,” Fronczak said.

“We have to be able to explain why this particular individual was singled out and dragged from the crowd, then placed into an ambulance because he had a severe injury. He had a broken leg. And I don’t have one police officer or one individual [who] can explain … why this particular individual was dragged away when there were many other people who were not, or how this injury occurred when he says he was struck with a baton,” she said.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Alds. Nick Sposato (38th) and Ray Lopez (15th) shared Reilly’s concerns about the “deep pockets” message being sent — not only to possible Democratic National Convention protesters, but to those determined to “destroy” Chicago during the two rounds of demonstrations that devolved into looting and rampant violence during the George Floyd protests.

“I remember that [first] day very well. … It was a traumatizing day when all hell broke loose in the city of Chicago, when pictures of officers trying to hold the line, and even some of our own colleagues, trying to throw our officers under the bus just for trying to protect property, protect people,” Lopez said.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Fronczak said that there is “no one from the city of Chicago who can testify that Mr. Mejia acted outrageously. In fact, there’s no one [who] can testify as to why he was being detained at all. That is why the city has already been found liable for battery and for detention, and that is why we are recommending settlement in this case.”

“I’m hopeful that, in the future, there will be witnesses and people who are able to come forward, including Chicago police officers that can testify as to what they observed, because that will help the city of Chicago defend these matters in the future,” she said.

Other settlements approved at Monday’s meeting:

• $175,000 to a woman who suffered back and neck injuries when a police squad car turned into her lane and ran her off the road.

• $385,000 to a chef who suffered a fractured arm and wrist and permanent nerve damage when a police car encroached on a bike lane and knocked her off her bike. Marilyn Salazar, then a chef at Oriole Restaurant, has been unable to work as a chef since the accident, alderpersons were told.