The Aurora police department recently agreed to pay $1.9 million to five members of a Black family who were wrongfully detained and held at gunpoint in 2020.
As announced by their lawyer, the money will be equally divided and given to Brittney Gilliam and her family, including her daughter, sister, and nieces, as part of a settlement.
Although the settlement was reached between both parties months ago, it was recently announced last week to protect the children involved in the case, said David Lane, per the New York Times.
The children already suffer distress from the encounter as they continue to attend therapy sessions for their trauma, according to the lawsuit. With a lawsuit that would go to trial, the settlement prevents the further traumatization of the children.
On Aug. 2, 2020, Gilliam, then 29, was detained alongside the girls, then ranging from ages 6 to 17, as several Aurora Police Department officers drew their weapons and ordered them to lie on the ground. The four children were shown crying and screaming in a viral video as the officers stood over them and eventually handcuffed two of the girls.
According to later statements made by the police department, they mistakenly pulled over Gilliam’s S.U.V. due to its license plate being similar to one that was reportedly stolen, continuing to deny Gilliam the opportunity to show her registration.
The officers later noted that the stolen vehicle’s license plate belonged to a motorcycle with a Montana license plate.
Brittney Gilliam and her 4 daughters will be paid $1.9M after they were handcuffed and held at gunpoint by Aurora police in 2020! This encounter was and STILL IS unacceptable! Hopefully this settlement can help this family to continue healing from this traumatizing encounter!
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) February 10, 2024
In statements made following the announcement of the settlement, Lane, who represented the family, emphasized the role that race played in the police’s decisions to draw their weapons on Gilliam and the girls.
“We believe that inexcusable racial profiling was involved in this case as well,” said Lane per CBS. “When the race of the occupants of a vehicle causes guns to be drawn, a line has been crossed which will result in huge consequences for the police. Hopefully, this settlement will lead to changes in how police departments handle situations like this in the future.”
The announcement of the settlement comes one month after it was announced that an Aurora police department officer, Randy Roedema, will only serve 14 months in jail for the role he played in the murder of 23-year-old Elijah McClain in 2019.
Roedema, who was the most senior law enforcement on the scene the night of McClain’s murder, was the only one found guilty after being convicted.
According to Senior Assistant Attorney General Jason Slothouber, as McClain struggled to breathe after vomiting in his last moments of living, Roedema picked him up, threw him onto the ground, and put his knee on his back.
Two paramedics will also be sentenced for their involvement in McClain’s death in March after being convicted in late December.
