Taxpayers in the Constitution State have been footing the bill for payouts in police misconduct lawsuits as cities in Connecticut have settled several claims of, ironically, constitutional rights violations and uses of excessive force.
Five Connecticut towns paid a combined $3.5 million settlement in 2013 to the family of a man who died in a police raid. The settlement came after they filed a lawsuit claiming excessive force, ABC News reported.
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It is believed to be the largest settlement for a police shooting in the state's history.
The man, Gonzalo Guizan, 33, was watching television when a special tactical police team charged into his small ranch home with flash grenades and guns drawn, shooting him to death,
the Connecticut Post reported.
In 2011, video captured Bridgeport police officers shoot a fleeing Orlando Lopez-Soto with a stun gun and then proceed to kick and stomp the prone man,
according to the Connecticut Post.
Two officers plead guilty to denying Lopez-Soto his constitutional rights.
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A U.S. District Court jury awarded a family in West Haven $119,000 after it found the city’s police violated the family’s Fourth Amendment rights and committed assault and battery in response to a noise complaint at the plaintiff’s home in 2009,
according to the New Haven Register.
The largest settlement,
according to the New Haven Register, the city has had to pay was $65,000 to Derrick Gilliam after he sued the city of New Haven because he claimed police officers used excessive force after arresting him for passing out fliers for a nearby business.
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