Pittsburgh pays $200K to man hurt by police during 2020 George Floyd protests

The City of Pittsburgh agreed in September to pay $200,000 to settle a lawsuit by a man who said police knocked out two of his teeth with a projectile while quashing the May 30, 2020, George Floyd protests Downtown.

City Council unanimously approved the payment at its meeting Dec. 10.

But it took until Tuesday for the money to get paid — and only after the attorney representing Gordon Brown in the case filed a motion in federal court to enforce the settlement and seek sanctions.

After TribLive made inquiries Tuesday, attorney Monte Rabner said, he received an email in the afternoon that said the check was ready.

According to the motion, Rabner made repeated efforts to learn why the payment had not been made, but the city failed to provide any substantive response.

On Jan. 24, according to the motion, Rabner was referred to the city controller’s office and was told it was solely responsible for issuing the check.

But when he spoke to the controller’s office, the motion stated, he was told they had no record of the settlement check being issued.

“The delay in disbursing the settlement funds appears to be either intentional or, at a minimum, grossly negligent,” Rabner wrote in the filing.

Coleman Lamb, a spokesman for the controller, said Tuesday that the office received the paperwork Monday.

Lamb learned Tuesday afternoon the check was ready. Lamb said he did not know what caused the delay.

Olga George, Mayor Ed Gainey’s spokesperson, did not return a message seeking comment.

Protests turn violent

On the same day Brown’s settlement was approved, City Council also authorized a payment of $9,000 in a 2022 false arrest case handled by Rabner, and $75,000 for a woman injured on city steps in the Hill District in 2013, according to meeting minutes.

All three motions had language saying council authorized “a single payment in 2024,” which, Rabner said, meant the money should have been paid before the end of the year.

Rabner said the checks for the other two claims were issued only in the past few days.

Brown, 32, of Slippery Rock sued the city in federal court in 2022, along with two other men, over injuries they said they received May 30, 2020, while protesting the death of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis.

The protests in Pittsburgh that day began peacefully but turned violent in the afternoon.

Protesters vandalized city police vehicles, including setting at least one on fire, and damaged buildings Downtown. Officers advanced on the protesters firing beanbag rounds, rubber bullets, flashbang grenades and chemicals.

Brown said his top lip was lacerated and he lost two teeth from being shot in the face with a less-than-lethal projectile.

The two other plaintiffs, Alexander Horell, who said he lost his right eye after it was struck by a projectile fired by the police, and Hatem M. Hassan, who said his hand was fractured by officers who fired rubber bullets at him, have not settled their claims.

The lawsuit alleged the city violated their rights to freedom of speech and assembly and to be free from excessive force and false arrest.

Dozens of people were charged by the city, though the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office withdrew charges in many of those cases.

Brown was initially charged with aggravated assault, riot, obstruction, failure to disperse, disorderly conduct and obstruction of highways.

Those counts were withdrawn, and last year he pleaded no contest to a summary count of scattering rubbish. He was ordered to pay a $50 fine and perform five hours’ community service — specifically picking up trash.