The City of Seattle has announced its intention to appeal a staggering $30.5 million jury award granted to the family of Antonio Mays Jr., a 16-year-old who was shot and killed during the 2020 “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest” (CHOP).
In a recent legal filing, the city argued that the verdict was “excessive.” The original lawsuit, brought by the teen’s father, alleged that the city was negligent for abandoning the East Precinct and failing to provide a safe environment or timely emergency medical response. Jurors ultimately agreed that the city’s negligence directly contributed to the boy’s death.
The award included $4 million for the teen’s estate and $26 million for his father. While the city faces mounting legal costs—which have now exceeded $45 million related to the CHOP protests—city attorneys maintain that the scale of this specific payout is legally unjustifiable.
This appeal comes as the legal fallout from the 2020 protest zone continues; a separate lawsuit was recently refiled by another teenager who survived the same shooting but was left with permanent disabilities. No arrests have ever been made in connection with the gunfire that killed Mays Jr. and injured the other youth.
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