Oakland Protesters Get $1M+ Settlement

About 150 protesters arrested by the Oakland Police Department during an Oscar Grant rally in 2010 will have their arrest records expunged and receive at least $4,500 each under an agreement reached with the city and Alameda County.

The $1.025 million settlement, which was preliminarily approved by a federal judge this month, stems from a class-action lawsuit filed by the National Lawyers Guild that claimed the city and county failed to follow state law or their own rules during the detention and arrest of protesters near Sixth Avenue and East 18th Street on Nov. 5, 2010.

Protesters said they were never given a chance to disperse when police halted a march that was to take place between downtown Oakland and the Fruitvale BART station. Then, after they were detained, protesters were made to sit in Alameda County Sheriff's Office buses and later in holding cells for up to 24 hours without ever being formally booked into jail.

Under state law, a person cannot be held for that long if only arrested on a misdemeanor charge, as was the case with the protesters.

Read the full Oakland Tribune story. View raw footage of the protest  here .

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