$495,000 settlement in cop's punch of bystander

One punch by a Minneapolis police officer to a man walking to his mailbox cost the city almost $500,000.

After a closed-door City Council meeting with Mayor R.T. Rybak and Police Chief Tim Dolan, the council publicly voted 12-0 Friday to pay Eldridge Chatman $495,000 in a settlement over a punch from officer Craig Taylor. Chatman required two brain surgeries because of bleeding in his head caused by a subdural hematoma.

Chatman, now 53, was living in public housing and on assistance when he stepped out of his apartment shortly before noon on April 11, 2008. As he walked down the hall, he encountered seven Minneapolis police officers in helmets and goggles crouched and preparing to execute a high-risk search warrant, possibly involving narcotics, in an apartment near Chatman's, according to a federal lawsuit he filed.

There's no dispute that Taylor was the lead officer and that both he and the man behind him carried submachine guns. Although Taylor tried to signal to Chatman to get out of the way, Chatman remained in front of the doorway the officers sought to enter. Taylor then struck Chatman once in the head.

Chatman's lawyer, Bob Bennett, said Friday there was no reason to use force on Chatman because he posed no threat to the officers and did nothing wrong. Bennett noted that blows to the head specifically should be used rarely and only when an officer is threatened.

Chatman likely didn't see the hand signals from Taylor, Bennett said. "You're looking at the business end of two submachine guns held by people who obviously would fire them if you did the least thing wrong," he said.

Several other six-figure settlements have been paid out in the past decade in incidents involving Minneapolis police.

They include $612,000 awarded a family in December after a mistaken police raid on their house in 2007. A family member, fearing intruders, fired a shotgun and police shot back. There were no injuries.

In November 2007, police officer Duy Ngo was awarded $4.5 million for injuries he suffered during a 2003 undercover operation in which he was shot six times by a fellow officer.

Friday's settlement came two days after Dolan changed police procedures for handling investigations of videotaped incidents involving the use of force.

The changes were spurred by the release of a squad-car video in which six officers can be seen kicking and punching motorist Derryl Jenkins in the head after a traffic stop in February. Jenkins required stitches after the incident. He has not filed a lawsuit. Dolan directed all officers to watch the Jenkins video and discuss use-of-force options for suspects. He also now requires that an internal affairs investigator to look at all force incidents captured on tape. Dolan sent the tape to the FBI for an outside inquiry.

Bennett said the Jenkins matter and Chatman case are similar in that both involved "African-American males who showed the slightest inclination to not obey" a command. "There's a subset of people the police think they can use force on and get away with," Bennett said.

Council, mayor silent

The City Council didn't publicly discuss Friday's settlement after its 30-minute meeting.

Rybak declined to comment. Dolan only confirmed that Taylor remains in the Special Operations Division and that an investigation remains open, meaning he has not been disciplined.

Council President Barbara Johnson said that in voting to settle, the council does a risk analysis, weighing a possible jury award and the cost of lengthy litigation.

Council Member Lisa Goodman, who generally votes against brutality settlements, said Chatman "was a completely innocent victim. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time and he could have life-long medical issues."

The council members declined to judge Taylor's actions, saying they aren't experts in the use of force.

Council Member Gary Schiff called the settlement "entirely appropriate." He said the officer's actions "will be closely scrutinized for appropriateness of policy but for this innocent bystander who was in the way, the punch used to get him out of the way had terrible consequences."

Chatman, a Mississippi native, said he couldn't sleep in the days leading up to the settlement. The plain-spoken man with a big smile said he will pay off medical debt and perhaps move south and buy a house and car. Chatman has a bachelor's degree in political science and taught high school before falling into a 20-year struggle with chemical addictions, including crack. Bennett said he has been sober in recent years.

Chatman said he is easily fatigued and has lost memory because of the blow to his head.

Taylor's file has plenty of commendations, and Bennett praised him, too. "He's done a lot of good things. This was not one of them," Bennett said.

Taylor was disciplined a few years ago for using "derogatory language intended to embarrass, humiliate or shame a person."

But both Bennett and council members expressed support for Dolan. Bennett has been trying -- and winning -- brutality cases against the Minneapolis police for nearly 30 years. "I don't think Dolan's doing a bad job," Bennett said, adding, but "there's a legacy here."

Bennett said he thinks that the department is better now than in the past but that the Special Operations Division "needs to understand they don't have any more constitutional license to use force" than other officers.

Johnson said the city "has a strong message sent by our police chief that the use of force is going to be looked at closely and there will be consequences."

Council Member Sandy Colvin Roy was absent and didn't vote.

Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747