City of Minneapolis settles lawsuit with journalist blinded in one eye amid 2020 protests

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Ford Fischer Retweeted

The City of Minneapolis agreed to a $600,000 settlement in photojournalist Linda Tirado’s lawsuit filed after she was permanently blinded in one eye by a crowd-control munition while covering protests in May 2020:

pressfreedomtracker.us
Freelance photojournalist permanently blinded during Minneapolis protests
Freelance writer and photographer Linda Tirado was struck with multiple crowd-control munitions while covering the fourth night of protests in …

Link to tweet

May 26, 2022 - Update

City of Minneapolis settles lawsuit with journalist blinded in one eye amid 2020 protests

The City of Minneapolis agreed to a settlement in the lawsuit brought by independent photojournalist Linda Tirado, who was struck by a rubber bullet amid protests in May 2020 and permanently blinded in one eye.

Tirado filed the lawsuit on June 10, 2020, less than two weeks after she was struck with multiple crowd-control munitions, naming the city, Police Officers Federation President Lt. Bob Kroll, police chief Medaria Arradondo and multiple other law enforcement officials and officers.

According to court documents reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, the parties reached a tentative settlement on May 17, 2022. The Minneapolis City Council agreed to pay Tirado $600,000 on May 26. The city agreed to pay $2.4 million to Soren Stevenson, a protester who was also shot with a rubber bullet and permanently blinded, according to the Minnesota Reformer.

The Reformer reported that the city has continually denied any wrongdoing in Tirado’s case and has never admitted that an officer fired the projectile that hit the photojournalist.

{snip}