The city of Detroit said Tuesday it will dismiss most misdemeanor citations issued last spring during several days of protests against police brutality following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Most of the tickets written May 31 and June 2 were for curfew violations as hundreds of people demonstrated in downtown Detroit. In all, the city expects to dismiss 238 of the 245 tickets issued on those three days, said Detroit Corporation Counsel Lawrence Garcia.
Dozens of demonstrators violated Detroit’s curfew requiring people to be off city streets after 8 p.m. and received appearance citations, Garcia said in a statement. Others were ticketed for disruptive or violent behavior. Police made arrests and used tear gas to disperse some of the crowds.
“In the many months since those tickets were issued, the city Law Department and police department have worked to study videotape and other evidence from the events in question,” Garcia said.
Citations written on June 1 never were submitted to court, while many protesters were not ticketed at all despite being out after curfew, he added.