St. Louis police protesters begin picking up checks in $4.9 million settlement

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Some of the people who were arrested during a 2017 protest over the acquittal of a white police officer in the shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith have started receiving their share of a $4.9 million settlement. The first checks were distributed Friday to some of the 84 people covered by the settlement. Their lawsuit had claimed protesters’ rights were violated when they were caught in a police “kettle” as officers surrounded and arrested everyone in the area. St. Louis has paid more than $10 million altogether in connection with police actions in the protest over the death of Smith, who was Black.