Photo credit: Cornell Watson (Kenya Walton (L) and Yolanda Irving (R))
On May 23, 2023, the Plaintiffs in Yolanda Irving et al. v. City of Raleigh et al., reached a settlement in their federal lawsuit with the City of Raleigh for $350,000.* Plaintiffs—two Black mothers who worked as Wake County school bus drivers and their children—were entirely innocent of any crime when RPD officers, armed with assault rifles and wearing body armor, executed a terrifying SWAT-style raid on their homes. The raid, which was connected to the still-unfolding Raleigh informant scandal, was the subject of a recent feature article in Rolling Stone magazine.
Throughout the course of the litigation, which commenced in February 2022, the Plaintiffs pushed for transparency and policy changes from the City of Raleigh and the Raleigh Police Department. In response, the department revised multiple policies and procedures, including prohibiting the use of “No-Knock” warrants and creating and enforcing more stringent protections concerning the use of confidential informants in drug operations. Also during the course of the litigation, former Detective Omar Abdullah was criminally indicted for felony Obstruction of Justice, and substantial changes were made to the staffing and operation of the Drugs and Vice Unit to which Abdullah and the other defendant officers belonged.
The Plaintiffs were represented by attorneys Abraham Rubert-Schewel, Emily Gladden and Nichad Davis of the law firm Tin Fulton Walker & Owen, as well as attorneys Elizabeth Simpson and Ian Mance of the nonprofit civil rights organization, Emancipate NC. The Defendants were represented by more than a dozen attorneys from the Raleigh City Attorney’s office and an assortment of private law firms.
“It’s been a very long and stressful journey. We are still dealing with the trauma caused by this horrible situation, but after a long 3 years, justice was finally served,” said Yolanda Irving, the lead named plaintiff in the case.
“The Raleigh informant scandal disrupted the lives of many innocent people and caused unnecessary trauma to our clients and others who were subjected to frightening police raids and arrests through no fault of their own,” said Ian Mance, Senior Counsel at Emancipate NC and one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys. “This could not have occurred if not for the indifference of multiple police officers to the civil rights of those they were sworn to protect.”
“Our firm has now settled claims on behalf of 28 individuals related to misconduct by Officer Abdullah and the RPD VICE Unit,” said Abraham Rubert Schewel, attorney at Tin Fulton Walker & Owen. “We hope that the City of Raleigh continues to examine its policies related to the use of confidential informants and the execution of search warrants to ensure that nothing like this injustice ever happens again.”
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*The settlement is contingent on final approval by the Raleigh City Council, the City’s excess insurance carrier (Lloyd’s of London), and the Federal District Court.