Police, civil rights group in $336K accord over 2020 protest

A city and two law enforcement agencies in a North Carolina county will pay $336,000 to a group of plaintiffs in a settlement stemming from a 2020 get-out-the-vote rally in which peaceful demonstrators were pepper-sprayed. The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and a Chicago-based law firm announced the settlement on Wednesday. A news release says the agreement involved the city of Graham and its police department, as well as the Alamance County sheriff. Police had said participants in the rally in October 2020 were arrested and pepper-sprayed for blocking a street without permission.