Last week, the INDY Week covered our $350,000 settlement with the City of Raleigh in litigation about a wrongful home raid executed against Yolanda Irving and Kenya Walton and their families:
During the 16 months the case was fought in civil court, lawyers representing Raleigh mounted strong resistance. They prevented body camera footage of the raid from being publicly released, tried to get Emancipate NC removed from the case, and shielded Police Chief Estella Patterson from a deposition to answer questions about the department’s policy on no-knock warrants.
Irving, Walton, and their children were also subject to intense depositions, where they were asked racially charged questions such as, “Are you in touch with your birth father at all?” “When was the last time you had a job, if ever?” And “Do you have a particular rap artist you like?”
Emancipate NC ultimately prevailed, however, successfully negotiating a settlement and, critically, putting an end to the use of no-knock warrants in Raleigh. Three months after the lawsuit was filed, the RPD adopted an official policy banning the use of no-knock warrants.