U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan approved a settlement under which the District will pay $8.25 million to the nearly 400 people arrested and hog-tied for up to 24 hours during a 2002 anti-globalization protest in Washington’s Pershing Park.
Under the settlement, the details of which were announced in December, the D.C. police department and city’s the attorney general’s office are required to better track evidence following findings over the course of the seven-year lawsuit that officials destroyed evidence connected to the case.
Sullivan called the changes “critical” and “substantial reform.”
Plaintiffs will receive about $18,000 each.
