Men injured by bean bag rounds at protest awarded $10 million settlement by Texas city
Two men shot and significantly injured by “less lethal” bean bag rounds while protesting police brutality will receive a combined $10 million after the city of Austin, Texas, agreed to settle their respective lawsuits.
Justin Howell and Anthony Evans each sued the city after they say police officers shot them with bean bag guns while protesting in May 2020. Howell was hit in the head, and Evans was shot in the face.
“As a consequence, Howell fell to the ground and suffered a traumatic brain injury,” his lawsuit filed in August 2021 says. “The projectile immediately – and to this day – caused Howell to suffer significant physical pain, mental anguish, impairment, and disfigurement.
“As Howell lay on the ground bleeding and brain damaged, not a single APD officer came to his assistance.”
Howell was unarmed, his legal team said.
Evans says he was also unarmed and walking with his hands up “to safely get away from the police violence” when he was shot.
“Despite this, APD Officer John Doe inexplicably and unreasonably shot him in the face with a potentially lethal projectile,” his October 2020 lawsuit says. “The projectile hit Evans in the face, fracturing his jaw and causing significant physical pain, mental anguish, impairment, and disfigurement – injuries that he continues to suffer from, will continue to suffer from in the future, and that required surgery to begin to repair.”
Howell will receive $8 million from the city, the Austin American-Statesman reported, while Evans will receive $2 million. The $8 million settlement is the largest police “excessive force case” in city history.
“The significant dollar amounts in today’s settlements stem from these particular plaintiffs’ need for ongoing and long-term care,” a City of Austin spokesperson said in a Feb. 17 statement. Officials believe resolving the two legal cases is in the best interest of both plaintiffs and the city.
“I understand the Council’s decision to settle these two cases now and our hearts go out to these two individuals who received serious injuries during the May 2020 protests,” Police Chief Joseph Chacon told McClatchy News. “When APD responded that day, our goal was to protect people gathering to exercise their right to protest as we have safely done for many years.
“We planned for protests with crowds that would be similar to past protests. In hindsight, we were not prepared for the heightened frustration felt by so many community members, nor the size and scope of the crowds,” he continued. “As tensions escalated, APD instructed our officers to use tools that we thought would help manage the crowd - for everyone’s safety, however, we did not anticipate the injuries that occurred from the use of the less lethal rounds. We now prohibit the use of less lethal ammunition for crowd control.”
A city spokesperson said Austin has other claims and lawsuits also filed in response to protest-related injuries, and each case will be reviewed individually.
The May 31, 2020, protest was one of many across the nation in response to the killings of George Floyd and Michael Ramos.
Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died while in police custody on May 25, 2020, and his death sparked an avalanche of protests across the nation. He died after now-fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes, as three other officers chose not to intervene.
A 17-year-old bystander took video of the incident, in which Floyd can be heard saying, “Please, please, please, I can’t breathe.”
During a trial that started on March 8, 2021, and ended on April 20, a jury of seven women and five men found Chauvin guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. In June, Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison.
Ramos, a 42-year-old Black and Hispanic man, was shot by an Austin police officer while driving out of a parking spot in April 2020, the Texas Tribune reported.
“Videos show officers ordering Ramos to exit his vehicle, hold his hands up and lift his shirt,” according to the newspaper. “He complied before inching back toward his car door, visibly distressed. He repeatedly yelled, asking what was going on, telling officers he did not have a gun and asking them not to shoot. Seconds later, Officer Mitchell Pieper fired a lead pellet-filled bag, known as an impact munition, considered ‘less lethal’ by police. Ramos then reentered his car and proceeded to drive. (Officer Christopher) Taylor fired three rounds at the moving vehicle, killing Ramos.”
In March 2021, KTBC reported Taylor was charged with first-degree murder.
This story was originally published February 17, 2022 at 2:36 PM with the headline "Men injured by bean bag rounds at protest awarded $10 million settlement by Texas city."