DENVER (AP) — Black girls lay face down in a parking lot, yelling “no” and “mommy” as a police officer pointed his gun at them, then bent down to handcuff two of their wrists. The youngest wore a pink tiara as she held her teenage cousin’s hand.
Lovely, 6, watched as her mother, Brittney Gilliam, was led to a patrol car in handcuffs after she screamed in frustration at police, who mistakenly believed the car she was driving was stolen.
Three years later, Gilliam agreed to a $1.9 million settlement with city officials in the Denver suburb of Aurora to resolve a lawsuit who claims the police officers’ actions are evidence of “deep and systematic” racism, the family’s attorney, David Lane, announced Monday.
The settlement spared the girls the trauma of having to relive what happened at trial, Lane said. The money will be split equally among the group, with the girls’ portions put into annuities so the money grows until they have access to it when they turn 18, Lane said.
“All parties are very pleased with this agreement,” he said.
Brittany Gilliam answers questions in the office of her attorney, David Lane, on Friday, Aug. 18, 2023, in downtown Denver. Gilliam’s attorney announced Monday, February 5, 2024, that a deal had been reached with the city of Aurora, Colorado, stemming from an incident that ended with the woman and her family of black girls being handcuffed and held on the ground at gunpoint by the police. Gilliam agreed to a $1.9 million settlement with Aurora city officials. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A spokesman for the city of Aurora did not immediately comment on the settlement.
This summer day in 2020 was supposed to be a fun girls’ day out for Gilliam, her daughter, sister and two nieces. Instead, it turned into a traumatic ordeal.
The prosecution’s investigation found that there was no evidence the officers have committed some crimes, in part because they found themselves following their training to make a high-risk stop on what they suspected was a stolen vehicle. However, they said the incident was “unacceptable and preventable” and called on police to review their policies to ensure nothing like this happens again.
One of the policemen who stopped the car, Darian Dashko, was suspended for 160 hours. He and the other officer, Madison Moen, still work for the department.
Video of young girls lying face down and being handcuffed sparked outrage after protests against racial injustice earlier this decade sparked by the killing of George Floyd.
Brittany Gilliam, front, answers questions in the office of her attorney, David Lane, as he looks on, Friday, Aug. 18, 2023, in downtown Denver. Gilliam’s attorney announced Monday, February 5, 2024, that a deal had been reached with the city of Aurora, Colorado, stemming from an incident that ended with Gilliam and her family of black girls being handcuffed and held on the ground at gunpoint by weapon from the police. Gilliam agreed to a $1.9 million settlement with Aurora city officials. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
That settlement also marks the latest Aurora has been forced to pay for police misconduct. The city settled for $15 million in 2021 with the parents of Elijah McClain. He was a 23-year-old black man who was killed in 2019 after he was stopped while walking down the street, placed on the neck and injected with a sedative. There was also a policeman condemned for his death and two others were acquitted. Two orderlies were also convicted.
A state civil rights investigation — launched amid outrage over McClain’s death and released after Gilliam’s lawsuit was filed — found there was a deep-rooted culture of racially biased policing in the department.
Lane said he hopes the settlement sends a message to law enforcement agencies across the country that they must use discretion in how they respond to situations.
“You can’t be a robocop and be an effective cop. You have to use common sense,” he said.
The Gilliam girls’ day had started with a visit to a nail salon, but they arrived to find it closed. As Gilliam sat in her car searching her phone for another salon to visit, officers approached with guns drawn and ordered her and a passenger to roll down their windows and put their hands out.
Officers couldn’t see who else was inside because the SUV had tinted windows, the prosecutor’s office said. But in the end they were all driven out and brought down to earth.
Gilliam shouted, “You don’t have to do all that. You don’t have to do all that,” body camera video shows.
“OK. OK, we’ll deal with it,” Dasco replied.
“Don’t tell me it’s all right!” Gilliam snapped.
About a dozen bystanders gathered to watch, some pulling out phones to record it.
The video shows the police looking confused about how to handle the situation when they realized there were children in the SUV. Moen had just graduated from the police academy two days ago. She hesitated about what to do once the girls were on the ground, asking other officers who arrived later if she should handcuff them. Another officer advised her to handcuff some of them.
Soon after, another officer seen in the footage said it was time to de-escalate the situation, telling one of the handcuffed girls: “You’re going to be with your mum. You will be OK. OK? OK? We’ll get you out in a second, baby. This is for our safety.” The body camera footage then shows Gilliam being led to a patrol car with her hands cuffed behind her back.
Amid shouting and crying, the police soon realized their mistake. While the department’s system notified them that Gilliam’s Dodge with Colorado license plates was stolen, the vehicle that was actually stolen was a motorcycle with the same Montana license plate.
Officers kept their guns drawn for about three and a half minutes and removed the girls’ handcuffs after about eight and a half minutes after realizing the car was not stolen, according to prosecutors.
During the first year, Gilliam said the encounter with the police left her full of anger, angry that she couldn’t do anything to help the girls.
“Mentally it destroyed me because I felt like not only was I not safe, but these kids were not safe,” she said in an interview before the settlement was announced, recalling what it was like to be handcuffed to the ground .
Her daughter, who she said had previously been a “joyful” child, started acting out and became withdrawn. The beautiful one would not talk about what happened. Eventually, Gilliam realized that her daughter was afraid of upsetting her even more.
But exactly a year later, almost to the minute, Gilliam gave birth to another daughter. She said she felt God was trying to wake her up and that she needed to release her anger.
“I felt like I wanted justice, but at the same time I couldn’t be angry,” she said. “All I wanted to do was heal myself.”
