DANIEL TEPFER
SOURCE: CONNECTICUT POST,
BRIDGEPORT
CREATED: MAY 29, 2014
Bridgeport officials agreed to
settle the man's civil rights lawsuit, paying him $198,000.
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- It was all
there on video -- a city man is shot twice with a stun gun after he runs from
police in Beardsley Park and is then stomped by three officers as he lies on
the ground.
The stark video of the cops
kicking the prone man made national news and triggered protests from local
activists and civil rights groups when it popped up last year on YouTube. It also
launched an FBI investigation into the officers' conduct.
On Tuesday, after receiving a
Freedom of Information request from Hearst Connecticut Media, city officials
said they agreed to settle the man's civil rights lawsuit against the Police
Department, paying him $198,000. The federal lawsuit originally called for a
$10 million payout.
"Considering costs
associated with proceeding to trial, a resolution was reached that is fair and
reasonable for all parties in this case," said Police Department Spokesman
William Kaempffer.
On the video, recorded May 20,
2011, Orlando Lopez-Soto, 28, is seen running from the right side of the frame
when there is the electric sound of a stun gun. Lopez-Soto falls face down in
the grass and officers Joseph Lawlor and Elson Morales run up to him and begin
kicking and stomping on him. The video was shot by an unnamed passerby.
Officer Clive Higgins then
pulls up in his patrol car, gets out, and leaning on Morales for support, also
begins kicking Lopez-Soto.
Lopez-Soto is serving a 5-year
prison term after being found guilty of criminal possession of a firearm,
possession of narcotics with intent to sell and failure to appear in court for
the crime that led to the chase by the officers.
"The agreement was reached
after a number of settlement discussions with the city," said Lopez-Soto's
lawyer, Robert Berke. "It fairly compensates my client for the events that
occurred at the park."
Carolyn Vermont, immediate past
president of the Greater Bridgeport NAACP, said the video created an awareness
of police brutality in the community that had not been there before.
"There have been so many
people who have told their stories about police brutality, but that's all they
were: stories," she said. "Now, we have this video in living color of
Bridgeport police brutalizing a man. Now they (city officials) can't ignore it.
There is a price to be paid when an individual's civil rights are
violated."
State NAACP President Scot X.
Esdaile said the case goes far beyond a monetary settlement.
"I want to know that the
Bridgeport Police Department is putting out the message to its officers that
these type of actions will not be tolerated," he said.
Esdaile said he is waiting for
the investigation into the stomping incident to be completed.
"And only then can the
police move to regain their trust from the minority community," he said.
Berke said the settlement will
not affect the other pending brutality lawsuits he and other lawyers filed
against the city regarding the same officers.
The settlement also does not
affect the status of the three officers, all 10-year veterans, who were placed
on paid administrative duty after city officials saw the video.
Law enforcement sources say the
three are also the subject of an ongoing federal grand jury investigation,
which could lead to their arrests.
Lopez-Soto was taken to the
hospital after the incident, but only for being shot twice with the electric
stun gun, according to the police report. There is no mention in the report of
the kicking and stomping by the officers.
The lawsuit, filed in federal
court here, says Lopez-Soto was deprived of his constitutional rights by the
cops, who used excessive force against him.
"While the plaintiff was
lying face-down on the ground motionless, the defendants forcefully kicked the
plaintiff over a dozen times, upon various parts of the body, including his
head, and stomped on his back," the lawsuit states.
Lawlor and Morales had been
riding in their patrol car shortly after 5 p.m. on May 20 when they saw a red
van with tinted windows traveling eastbound on Shelton Street, the police report
states.