Journalist Linda Tirado Awarded Settlement From The City of Minneapolis After Being Blinded By A Police Projectile While Covering The 2020 Protests Against Police Brutality

5/26/2022-Written by SJ

Almost exactly two years after the police murder of George Floyd, a journalist who was blinded in her left eye and suffered brain damage as a result of being struck in the face by a police projectile, has settled with the city. Tirado was injured during the protests against police brutality that took place in Minneapolis immediately following Floyd’s death.

On Thursday, Linda Tirado was awarded a settlement of $600,000 by the Minneapolis City Council. 

A judge who ruled on a portion of her federal case stated, “Tirado’s experience as a journalist during the George Floyd protests and her injuries are serious and troubling.”

The judge continued, “That numerous other journalists experienced similar, seemingly unjustified incidents involving less-lethal munitions and other measures is even more troubling, as the allegations plausibly suggest an unconstitutional custom carried out by (Minneapolis Police) officers of targeting journalists for unlawful reprisals.”

The incident took place in May of 2020 while Tirado, who lives in Tennessee, was in Minneapolis covering the protests. Her story was one of several in which people were injured by Minneapolis police projectiles in the wake of Floyd’s murder. 

Physicians for Human Rights reported that, as a result of excessive force used by police at the uprisings, they “identified at least 115 people across the United States who were shot in the head or neck with KIPs from May 26 to July 27, 2020.”

The PHR defines KIPs as including “various bullets and baton rounds, as well as tear gas canisters, that are fired into crowds from a gun, rifle, or other launcher.”

The ACLU also reports that journalists “are facing an influx of violence, suppression efforts, and arrests by police,” specifically while covering protests linked to police brutality. 

Tirado is one of many people in Minneapolis, and even more nationally, to receive settlements over injuries sustained by police projectiles during the summer of 2020 uprisings around the country.