The city of Philadelphia has agreed to pay $ 2 million to a young black mother after police officers broke the windows of the sports utility vehicle she was in, removed her and beat her after she inadvertently found herself in a police barricade last fall. lawyers said Tuesday.
The meeting happened when the woman, Rickia Young, was in the presence of her young child and the 16-year-old son of a family friend who were also in the vehicle, said Kevin Mincey, one of Ms. Young.
“It’s life-changing money for Rickia and her family,” Mincey said of the deal in an interview. “But what happened changed lives equally.”
The episode took place on October 27, 2020, amid protests following the deadly shooting of Walter Wallace Jr., a 27-year-old black man who police said was armed with a knife.
Hours after the murder of Mr. Wallace on Oct. 26, in a cell phone video taken by a bystander, sees an SUV at a police barricade and officers quickly surround the vehicle. Ms Young, according to her lawyers, was not part of the protest, but had picked up the teenager, who was trapped in West Philadelphia and “feared growing tensions between police and those protesting the murder of the Mr. Wallace. “
When he started returning home, lawyers said, he found himself in the middle of a large group of protesters and police, on a blocked Chestnut Street. He tried to make a change of direction but had to stop to avoid hitting protesters who started running in his vehicle, his lawyers said.
“Suddenly and without warning,” Riley Ross, another of Ms. Young’s attorneys, told a news conference Tuesday, “a pack of Philadelphia police officers carrying riot gear and batons went down to the car, smashing several windows of the vehicle. Officers violently ripped Mrs. Young and her nephew from the vehicle and physically hit her and him on the street, causing serious injuries. “
She was bruised and had a bloodied face, Mincey said, adding that she had emotional distress, all of which was taken into account in the deal.
Mrs Young’s lawyers also said the legislative link of the National Fraternal Order of Police, in a deleted message since then, shared a photo of a police officer holding the lady’s child a few moments ago after she was arrested for proving that police were protecting a child wandering amid riots against the damage.
Danielle Outlaw, the Philadelphia police commissioner, said Tuesday in a statement that the behavior of some police officers involved in the encounter with Ms. Young “violated the mission of the Philadelphia Police Department.”
“In fact, the ability of site agents and supervisors to spread the situation was abandoned,” Ms. Outlaw said, “and instead of fighting crime and fear of crime, some of the site agents created a environment that terrorized Rickia Young, her family and other members of the public. “
Following an investigation into internal affairs, two officers have been fired and 14 are pending disciplinary proceedings through the department’s Police Investigation Board, a city spokesman said.
A phone message left in the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, representing the officers involved in the matter, was not immediately answered on Tuesday night.
Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement that what Mrs. Young and those who had her experienced was “absolutely horrible.”
“This terrible incident, which should never have happened to anyone, only strained the relationship between the police department and our communities,” he said. “The inexcusable actions of the officers that night led to an immediate and thorough investigation of the incident and for the staff to be disciplined and responsible for their flagrant conduct.”
He added: “I hope the agreement and investigations into the agents’ actions will lead to some degree of closure on Ms Young and her family.”
Young, 29, and his lawyers also want criminal charges filed against the police officers involved.
“It’s clear criminal conduct, there’s no question about it,” Mincey said.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said Tuesday night, “It would not be inappropriate under the law for us to comment on whether or not an investigation exists at this time. Later, we will have more to say.”
Speaking in general terms, Mr Krasner said cases like Mrs Young’s were complicated because they were chaotic and it could be difficult to determine which agents were responsible for what actions, especially when everyone was wearing the same clothes.
“When it comes to this scenario and you have grainy cell phone images that don’t capture the things you want to capture in a criminal investigation,” he said, “that’s another difficulty.”