St. Paul is about to approve a $270,000 police brutality settlement for a woman who required more than 300 stitches after she said a police officer threw her through a glass door and then falsely claimed she caused her own injuries by tripping.
Attorney Bob Bennett of Minneapolis represented Cosetta Morris, who required surgery and stitches inside her arm as well as on the skin. "It's a decent deal. ... She was cut really bad," Bennett said.
The City Council is expected to approve the settlement at its Wednesday meeting.
The amount is the same as the city paid in 2004 to settle a brutality lawsuit by Robert Kearney. He said two police officers pushed him down a flight of stairs and ignored his request for medical attention.
The $270,000 settlement is second only to the $400,000 the city gave to the family of Charles Craighead, who was mistakenly shot and killed by police as he tried to protect his fiancé from a carjacker in 2001.
City Council President Kathy Lantry said the council authorized the settlement discussions and the amount in a closed-door session in January.
"These are always difficult," Lantry said, adding that the council must weigh what they believe happened, what can be proven in court and possible attorneys fees. But still, "We don't often settle."
On March 15, 2009, Morris and her partner got into a fight in their home on the 400 block of Minnehaha Av. E. Morris' partner, Michelle Williams, called police, who arrived to find the door to the apartment open.
