The Denver City Council approved a $2.3 million settlement on Tuesday with Jax Feldmann, a Denverite who was blinded in his left eye after a police officer shot him in the face with a pepper ball during the George Floyd protests in 2020.
The payment settles a lawsuit that attorneys filed on Feldmann’s behalf in January 2022 stemming from the May 30, 2020, incident. Feldmann was not participating in the protests when an officer in a passing truck shot him with the projectile while he walking back to his car after meeting with a friend, according to that lawsuit.
Feldmann was 21 at the time he was struck by the pepper ball, a projectile that includes a chemical irritant similar to pepper spray. Doctors determined in 2020 that his eye was damaged beyond repair and would eventually have to be removed, according to the lawsuit.
He is among several people who sued the city and the Denver Police Department after their eyes were damaged when they were shot in the head with less-lethal munitions during the protests in late May and early June of 2020.
Law enforcement officers’ actions during the largely peaceful protests already have resulted in more than $10 million in legal settlements, according to city records.
In September, the City Council approved a $550,000 settlement with Russell Strong. Strong lost his right eye after Denver police Office Adam Bolton fired a “kinetic impact projectile” at him on May 30, 2020, according to his lawsuit against the city.
In 2022, the council approved a $500,000 settlement with Michael Acker. who suffered cuts and vision impairment after a Denver officer shot him with a foam projectile during the protests.
In Feldmann’s case, attorney Birk Baumgartner identified Denver Officer Diego Archuleta as the person who shot his client with the pepper ball without warning. A department investigation into the incident was inconclusive as to who among the officers in the passing truck fired the shot.
Archuleta, who was disciplined for other actions during the protests, resigned on Jan. 6, 2022, according to department officials. He pleaded guilty to a felony charge of attempted strangulation the same day, court records show.
Baumgartner filed another lawsuit against the city in January 2022 on behalf of two men, Nicolas Orlin and Shawn Murphy, who also suffered facial injuries and vision impairment after police allegedly shot them in their faces with less-lethal projectiles during the protests.
That case is still pending. A settlement conference is scheduled for May 3, according to court documents.
Feldmann’s settlement passed as part of a council block vote on Tuesday and was not called out for additional discussion. The Denver City Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the settlement when contacted on Friday.
Updated Jan. 17, 2024, at 4:11 p.m. This story was updated to reflect that the City Council voted to approve the settlement agreement and that the City Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the case.
Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.
