The city of Los Angeles has tentatively agreed to pay nearly 13 million U.S. dollars to immigration protesters and bystanders injured by police officers during a melee last year, it was reported on Thursday.
The proposed agreement still must be approved by the City Council, the mayor and the judge overseeing the claims against the city.
Once approved, it would mark one of the largest payouts ever made to resolve the misconduct of Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), according to the Los Angeles Times.
Several sources confirmed the size of the proposed deal at 12.85 million dollars, the paper said. Further payouts are likely to journalists who also sued, charging they were roughed up by the LAPD while covering the event.
A settlement in the case would go a long way toward closing an embarrassing and damaging chapter in the LAPD's recent history, department observers said.
During last year's May Day melee in downtown Los Angeles, LAPD's elite Metro Division used batons and fired rubber bullets into the largely peaceful crowd. There were no deaths, but hundreds of demonstrators and journalists and 18 officers suffered injuries.
A scathing internal LAPD report blamed poor leadership and planning as well as the overly aggressive tactics by officers.
Source:Xinhua
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