Dalvin Gadson won a $2.1 million excessive force settlement from Colorado Springs after he was beaten by police during a traffic stop. (Photos from court documents)
A $2.1 million settlement has been reached in an excessive force lawsuit filed by a Black Navy veteran seen in body camera footage being punched and kicked by three Colorado Springs police officers during a traffic stop that started over a $15 license plate violation.
The settlement for Dalvin Gadson, 30, was approved by the Colorado Springs City Council in a 7-1 vote on Tuesday over the incident in October 2022, officials said. Gadson filed a lawsuit in December of that year in a federal court in Colorado. The lawsuit named Colorado Springs officers Colby J. Hickman, Matthew Anderson and Christopher K. Hummel.
“This settlement should stand as a warning to all those who think their badges entitle them to brutalize the men and women they’ve sworn to protect and serve,” a statement reads from national civil rights attorneys Harry Daniels, Bakari Sellers, Latrice Latin and Kevin Mehr, who represented Gadson. “You are not above the law and if your own department refuses to hold you accountable, we will. Let’s be clear. This is an important day for Dalvin Gadson and for all the people of Colorado Springs. But that doesn’t mean the fight is done. We will continue working with the Department of Justice in their investigation and we will not stop until justice is done. This kind of violence is unacceptable whether it happens in Camden County Georgia or Colorado Springs. The American people won’t stand for it.”
Hickman’s attorney declined to comment. Attorneys for the other two defendants did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.
Gadson was pulled over on Oct. 9, 2022, at 2:54 a.m. near South Academy Boulevard and Airport Road, the Colorado Springs Police Department said on a special section of its website that includes body camera video and the arrest affidavit.
According to the affidavit, police said Gadson was “demonstrating unorthodox driving behavior” and driving 15 mph in a 45 mph zone when he was pulled over. His car had no visible license plates and no temporary tag, the document said. An officer approached the car and saw Gadson had a knife in a cup holder between the front seats. The officer also noted Gadson “to be thick-tongued and slurred in his speech,” the affidavit said.
When the officer told him to get out of the vehicle for a DUI investigation, Gadson refused, police said. When other officers approached and asked him several times to exit the car, he “became verbally argumentative and told officers something to the effect of, he ‘was not going to be detained’ and refused to exit the vehicle,” the affidavit said.
When officers tried to pull him out, he retreated into the vehicle and kicked an officer in the chest several times and became more aggressive, kicking, scratching, and punching officers, the report said.
The lawsuit said Hickman and Hummel tried to remove Gadson from his vehicle on the driver’s side and struck him in the face multiple times with a closed fist. Hummel kneed Gadson in his forehead, causing him to fall back into his vehicle, according to the complaint.
“Anderson immediately came in from the passenger side of the vehicle and commenced striking Mr. Gadson in his head repeatedly with a closed fist,” the lawsuit said.
The document said Anderson hit Gadson over 20 times with his closed fist as Hummel held Gadson’s left arm, court documents said.
Eventually, Gadson was pulled out of his car. On the ground, “while curled up in the fetal position and not resisting arrest, defendant Anderson kicked Mr. Gadson in the face,” court documents said.
“Defendant Hummel struck Mr. Gadson with an open hand strike,” the document said. “After being beaten by the defendants, Mr. Gadson laid on the ground with blood pouring from his wounds.”
During the incident, Hummel can be heard making several demeaning comments in body worn video.
“I slapped the ever-living f— out of this dude,” he said at one point.
Immediately after Gadson was taken into custody, Hummel said, “You’re under arrest, you dumb f—.”
Gadson was hospitalized for a black eye, back injuries, chest wall contusions, an abrasion to the right side of his back, and a head injury, court documents said. He continues to suffer from significant post-traumatic stress disorder-type symptoms from the assault, the document said.
Gadson’s initial charges of driving under the influence, assault, obstruction, and resisting arrest were dropped, but he did have to pay the $15 fine for the license plate violation, his lawyer said.
An internal investigation concluded the officers’ use of force was justified. The report found Hummel’s coarse language during the takedown was “demeaning and unacceptable.” He received a brief suspension and was removed as a training officer. Anderson received training and a disciplinary report. Hickman received no discipline.
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