City Council approves $280K settlement for activist injured by CPD officer at 2020 protest
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Chicago City Council approved a settlement for a woman injured during a 2020 protest on Wednesday.
The Committee on Finance approved the settlement Monday.
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The $280,000 settlement was approved Wednesday by a vote of 34-15.
In July 2020, a protest of the Christopher Columbus statue turned violent in Grant Park.
The protest came during a wave of protests against police brutality and tributes to those many view as historic oppressors.
An 18-year-old activist at the time with the group Good Kids Madd City, Miracle Boyd was filming an arrest when an officer knocked her phone out of her hand, which hit her face and knocked out her tooth. Chicago police officers were hurt that day, too.
RELATED: Chicago police release video showing confrontation near Grant Park Columbus statue protest
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability found that the officer involved in the incident used excessive force and made false statements in his police report of the incident. COPA recommended that the officer be fired, but he resigned before any discipline could take place.
"Two-hundred-and-eighty-thousand dollars ain't enough to fix what was broken that day. It's just, it's not," 20th Ward Ald. Jeanette Taylor previously said.
On Monday, some members of Finance Committee debated the merit of such a settlement.
"These people were there to do nothing but wreak havoc, fight with police, tear down a statue, because they don't agree with the art that's been up for 90 years," 38th Ward Ald. Nick Sposato said.
Boyd testified during the meeting.
"To this day, I remember it like it was yesterday. For some reason, I can't get over the harm that was caused to me," Boyd said.
The settlement passed 22 to 7 in the Finance Committee.
"It wasn't her fault. The phone got knocked out and ended up knocking out her teeth. That was an error. She had to have medical and surely, she had to be treated for that," 37th Ward Ald. Emma Mitts said.
The video in the player above is from an earlier report.
