Denver, police officer appeal more than $14M in payouts to George Floyd protesters

Denver and a city police officer are appealing a federal jury’s orders that they pay millions in damages to demonstrators injured by officers during the 2020 protests over the death of George Floyd.

The city argued in an appeal filed Dec. 23 that the case should be retried or thrown out, saying several errors took place when it was heard almost three years ago. Barring that, Denver is asking that the $14 million in compensatory damages that a jury awarded to a dozen plaintiffs be reduced.

Officer Jonathan Christian also is appealing the order that he pay $50,000 in punitive damages to Elisabeth Epps, a former state representative who said Christian shot her in the leg with a pepper ball while she was crossing the street.

Epps also was awarded $1 million from the city, which has yet to pay any of the plaintiffs, according to Elizabeth Wang, an attorney representing five of the 12.

Plaintiffs were shot with pepper balls and sponge rounds, and were subjected to chemical munitions, despite the fact they were protesting peacefully and not damaging property, their attorneys argued at trial. They suffered broken bones, bruises and cuts.

Denver asked federal Judge R. Brooke Jackson to reduce the damages after the conclusion of the trial, which was one of the first to address the conduct of police during the George Floyd protests across the country. Although Jackson lowered the damages owed by Christian from $250,000 to $50,000 in 2022, he declined to reduce the $14 million owed by Denver.