COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Officials in Ohio’s largest city have reached a $225,000 settlement with a man who said police officers used improper force during a 2017 arrest.
The Columbus City Council voted unanimously Monday to approve the deal with Timothy Davis. As part of the settlement, neither the city nor the officers admitted to any wrongdoing.
Davis had sued the city in federal court, alleging civil rights violations, but a jury rejected his claims in December 2021. A federal judge granted a partial new trial in September, saying a complete jury verdict in favor of the officers was “against the clear weight of the evidence.” The settlement reached in December and approved Monday resolves that matter.
Davis’ lawyers had said during the trial that Columbus officers verbally abused, punched, kicked and used a stun gun on him; pulled out his hair; and stripped him nearly naked from the waist down during the September 2017 arrest.
A lawsuit also accused officers of trying to block bystanders from filming the arrest.
The city denied the allegations, saying police acted properly when they arrested Davis on several warrants for violent crimes, including assaulting an officer. The city also denied officers tried to block the filming of the arrest.
The jury issued a verdict denying all claims against nine officers and the city, which has acknowledged that remarks by an officer at the scene were “inappropriate” but said the officer wasn’t involved in taking Davis into custody.
“I’m going to choke the life out of you,” the officer said at one point, referring to how he would have handled the arrest.
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