Recent payouts for police misconduct lawsuits in Alabama include a $460,000 settlement in Birmingham and a $275,000 settlement in Phenix City.
In October 2014, the city of Birmingham settled a civil lawsuit brought by an inmate who had been the subject of a 2008 alleged police assault after he fled from officers in his vehicle during a
high-speed chase, AL.com reported.
Under the settlement agreement, the city paid $460,000. Of that, $1,000 went to the plaintiff, Anthony Warren, and the rest to attorneys involved in the case.
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Dash-cam video captured officers striking Warren for less than 10 seconds after they pulled him from his vehicle, which had overturned during the pursuit, AL.com reported.
Warren, who is serving a 20-year attempted murder sentence for hitting one officer with his vehicle during a multi-city chase, had fled a narcotics officer in his car, the website said. During the chase, he smashed into a school bus and police patrol car before he struck an officer in Hoover as the policeman attempted to put down puncture strips on a roadway.
The officers involved had been previously acquitted by a jury in a criminal case. Warren then filed a civil suit under federal civil rights laws.
City official defended the police actions in the case.
"During the chase Mr. Warren endangered the lives of numerous innocent civilians and police officers," officials from Birmingham said in a written statement to AL.com "The chase ended shortly after Mr. Warren struck a Hoover police officer with his vehicle on Highway 31. Although deadly force was warranted at various points during the chase, the officers testified that their goal was to preserve Mr. Warren's life and the lives of innocent bystanders."
In early July 2015, Phenix City, Alabama reached a settlement with victim Elizabeth Coty-Green and her husband Spivey green after she claimed her eye socket had been fractured in an altercation with an officer in May 2014.
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The city council approved a payment of $275,000 to settle the Green's
$1 million lawsuit, The Associated Press reported. Elizabeth Green claimed the officer punched her and rendered her unconscious after he had arrived on a call about a domestic disturbance. The officer was later disciplined. The department purchased 60 body cameras for its officers in the aftermath of the case, the AP noted.
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