- Police Brutality Watch

Toledo City Council voted last night to spend $50,000 to settle a federal lawsuit alleging a "Rodney King-type" beating by three Toledo police officers. City officials said they decided to settle the case because of the risk of a jury verdict in U.S. District Court in Cleveland, where the case was transferred. According to court records, Al W. Moore, Jr., of Toledo was arrested at 2:30 a.m. Jan. 19, 2000, while driving in the 3300 block of Dorr Street. While being arrested, according to the lawsuit, Moore, who is black, was handcuffed, beaten on the head with a flashlight, and called racial names by Toledo police Officers James Bruzda, Mark Collins, and Steven Lamb, all of whom are white. The officers denied that a beating occurred or that any inappropriate language was used. City attorneys William Bracy and Mark Schmollinger said the city denied any wrongdoing, but officials were concerned about a potentially higher jury award and the cost of the litigation. The case had been transferred from Toledo to Cleveland because the wife of one of the officers was a federal probation officer. Council approved the expenditure from the city's risk management account by a 10-0 vote, with Councilmen Louis Escobar and Bob McCloskey absent at the time of the vote. The original suit also brought charges against Sheriff James Telb and several corrections officers, but those were dismissed because the statute of limitations expired. [more