Brittney Gilliam family settles $1.9 million lawsuit

Source: Dmytro Skrypnykov / Getty

Police should never be allowed to get away with abusing people without consequence. If they make a mistake, that mistake should cost, big time.

Back in 2020, BOSSIP reported on an incident that left a Black family traumatized following an incident with a group of inept police officers in Aurora, Colorado. Brittney Gilliam was accosted by armed officers who ordered her and her 6-year-old daughter, 12-year-old sister, 14 and 17-year-old nieces out of their family van at gunpoint. Let the pigs tell it, they believed that the vehicle was stolen. What makes this harrowing case so inflammatory is that not only did the officers have the wrong car but also the wrong color, wrong license plate, and wrong type of vehicle. It sounds like they just saw a Black family and decided that they were criminals.

Subsequently, Gilliam filed a lawsuit against the city and police officials seeking damages for their pain and suffering. According to an NBCNews article, Gilliam and the city have settled that suit for $1.9 million. The family attorney David Lane spoke publicly after the settlement was announced.

“Aurora cops need to spend less time on the gun range and more time in the law library. Our hope is that police officers all over the country learn that law enforcement needs to use common sense, especially when dealing with children,” Lane said in an emailed statement. “A robo-cop mentality will lead to huge liability.”

Handcuffing small children who clearly aren’t criminal masterminds shows the severe lack of discernment that these bacon-scented boys in blue possess. Seems like they let any ol’ body become a cop with very little vetting.