The City of Grand Rapids has agreed to pay a $285,000 settlement to the family of Honestie Hodges to resolve a federal civil rights lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed after Hodges was held at gunpoint by Grand Rapids police when she was 11 years old.
In return for the payment, the Hodges family will drop the lawsuit, according to the family’s attorney, who confirmed the details to FOX 17.
However, the settlement must be approved by a judge before it becomes final.
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In a statement, the city said, “We are pleased that the parties have been able to resolve this matter without further court proceedings and have brought this long journey, which has been difficult for all involved, to a close.”
However, the family’s attorney stated that no amount of money could truly compensate for the trauma caused by the incident.
The attorney explained that the settlement is about “affirming the value of every child, restoring public trust, and ensuring that policing practices reflect both public safety and human dignity.”
In 2017, Grand Rapids police officers, while searching for a suspect they believed to be in Hodges’ home, held the 11-year-old at gunpoint and then handcuffed her. The suspect was later discovered in a different building nearby.
Her arrest led to the creation of the Honestie Policy in 2018 after the police were cleared of all charges. This policy requires police officers to change how they interact with children at possible crime scenes and has stricter rules for reporting when a child is handcuffed.
Hodges later died at age 14 from COVID-19 complications in November 2020.
In 2023, her mother, Whitney Hodges, filed a lawsuit alleging the Grand Rapids Police Department failed to adequately address the violation of her civil rights, according to MLive.com.
The mother recounted that at the time of the incident, she asked the police why they were searching her 11-year-old daughter. The lawsuit says the girl, Hodges, obeyed the police by walking backward with her hands up.
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A police officer told the girl to stay calm, suggesting they might be at the wrong house. The lawsuit states that a sergeant then told another officer to remove the handcuffs, but Hodges was still kept in the police car.
The lawsuit leveled serious accusations against the officers, including claims of false imprisonment, assault and battery, excessive force, and unreasonable search and seizure. Furthermore, the suit alleged a failure on the part of the department to adequately train and supervise its personnel.
The lawsuit also alleged that the girl “suffered serious mental anguish, anxiety, emotional distress, a sense of outrage, loss of social pleasure and enjoyment, and death” from the 2017 incident with police.
Grand Rapids attorney Stephen Drew said in a statement when the lawsuit was filed, “The trauma Honestie endured that night lasted for the remainder of her short lifetime. After that confrontation by officers, Honestie’s life was marred by extreme emotional and psychological distress, significantly diminishing her quality of life and her ability to cope both physically and mentally.”
Initially, Grand Rapids moved to have the lawsuit dismissed in 2025, but commissioners decided to move ahead with the settlement earlier this month.
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