Raleigh police settlements are public records, but delays in their release hid some
On Monday, the family of a man who died in 2023 after begging police to stop using a Taser on him filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Raleigh.
A package of stories The News & Observer is publishing this week offers context to those accusations, with details and patterns found in cases where city officials paid money to settle complaints of mistreatment by Raleigh police since 2012.
The city has paid nearly $4.3 million since 2012 to people who said encounters with Raleigh police resulted in injuries or deaths, along with wrongful arrests and improper searches, our investigation found.
Obtaining the records took years. We first requested city records of money paid by the city to settle complaints in 2020 after Raleigh police killed three men in two years, including two men whose families said they had mental disabilities. In June 2020, the family of one of the men filed a lawsuit accusing Raleigh officials of ignoring problematic policing patterns prior to his death.
On Aug. 20, 2020, The N&O requested all such payouts from 2014 to the present through the city’s public information request website. We sent emails about the request on August 11, 2021 and March 21, 2023.
On March 23, 2023, Sarah Baker, who handles public information requests, sent an email saying the requested records were available on the website. But they included only payouts from May 2012 through October 2019. The N&O requested more recent settlements in December 2023.
Meanwhile, The N&O pulled records from dozens of state and federal lawsuits, often paying for documents, looking for settled complaints. After The N&O independently learned about three settled cases, including a $1.25 million payment, the city did provide the signed settlement agreements on those specific cases within days.
While reporting on settlements it had obtained, The N&O interviewed local civil rights attorneys, including Abe Rubert-Schewel. At the end of January this year, Rubert-Schewel made his own public information request for police settlements dating back to 2010.
On March 7, the attorney notified The N&O that the city sent him settlement agreements going back to 2010. He provided The N&O with copies of the settlements the next day.
The N&O sent emails to the city asking why an attorney received information before The N&O did, even though he made his request after The N&O did. City officials haven’t clearly answered that question. But the city on March 13 provided all of the settlement documents previously sent to Rubert-Schewel.
Reviews of state and court records, including sworn depositions by members of the police department and city officials, filled in details about some complaints that led to settlements that are not specified in city documents. In some cases, court records showed that internal investigations by the Raleigh Police Department supported complaints made against police.
Virginia Bridges covers criminal justice in the Triangle and across North Carolina for The News & Observer. Her work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The N&O maintains full editorial control of its journalism.
