CINCINNATI (AP) — The family of an Ohio man who suffered
brain damage after a police officer used a stun gun on him while he was
atop an 8-foot fence, causing him to fall head-first to the concrete
below, has settled a federal civil rights lawsuit for more than $2
million, his attorney said Wednesday.
Under the settlement,
Matthew Hook’s family will drop the lawsuit against the Columbus suburb
of Perry Township, its board of trustees and the police officer, said
attorney Al Gerhardstein of Cincinnati. In exchange, the township’s
insurer will pay $2.25 million, to be divided among Hook, his parents
and his 6-year-old daughter, who live in the Columbus suburb of Dublin.
The
lawsuit, filed in November 2011, accused Officer Shawn Bean of using
deadly force on Hook, then 23, by stunning him in the back with a Taser
while he was unarmed and scaling a fence Aug. 9, 2010. Police said Hook
had been driving a stolen vehicle, was implicated in two burglaries and
was fleeing police.
Hook, 27, now suffers from seizures, is emotionally unstable and requires constant monitoring,
Gerhardstein said.
"At
no time had Mr. Hook made any threatening gestures, possessed or
displayed a weapon, or posed any physical threat in any manner to
Officer Bean or any other person," the lawsuit said. "The Taser worked
as intended. The electrical shock paralyzed Mr. Hook’s muscles. Unable
to control his movements, Mr. Hook plummeted, head-first, to the other
side of the fence."
Ned Dowd, a Miamisburg attorney representing
the township, said the settlement was not an admission of liability and
Bean’s use of force in the case was justified. Also, he noted, the
insurance company will pay the settlement, not taxpayers.
Dowd
said the decision to settle was based on a risk analysis by the
township’s insurance company and estimates that the township could have
been found liable for up to $12 million for Hook’s current and future
medical bills.
"It’s important to note that anytime these officers
are out there, they’re required to make split-second decisions — they
don’t have the benefit of sitting around and pondering what to do," Dowd
said. "The person’s fleeing, you’re commanding them to stop and
unfortunately this was the consequence … Everyone felt badly about
what occurred."
Neither Bean nor attorneys for the officer responded to messages seeking comment.
In
a police report justifying his use of the Taser, Bean wrote that he
thought he could safely immobilize Hook with the Taser but that Hook
scaled the fence "very quickly."
"It was my intent to stop the
suspect to apprehend him and to bring the situation safely and
effectively under control," Bean wrote.
The settlement comes after
U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus Jr. declined to grant a request by
Bean and Perry Township to dismiss the lawsuit, saying a jury could
reasonably conclude that Bean had violated Hook’s constitutional rights
and that the township’s "lack of guidance" in training materials was the
moving force behind the incident.
The lawsuit accused Perry
Township of contributing to Hook’s injuries with a use-of-force policy
that failed to warn officers that deploying Tasers on suspects who are
on elevated surfaces could be deadly, a warning that the maker of the
device had already issued. The lawsuit also criticized the policy for
authorizing officers to use Tasers on fleeing suspects even if they were
only suspected of nonviolent property crimes.
Perry Township has since changed its Taser policy to warn officers of using the device on suspects who
are elevated.
Seven
charges of receiving stolen property, theft and failure to comply with
an order were filed against Hook, but the judge found Hook incompetent
to stand trial because he has no memory of about three months of his
life, including when he fell from the fence, said his defense attorney,
Lawrence Riehl. He said he expects the case will be dismissed at any
time.
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