- Police Brutality Watch

Springfield has paid $15,000 to settle a brutality suit brought against the city, several police officers and the chief by a Chicopee man who claimed he was beaten into unconsciousness and had to be hospitalized after his arrest more than three years ago. The city settled the suit to avoid trial expenses, city lawyer Edward M. Pikula said. "I think the city recognizes there's a cost of litigation," he said. "We certainly deny that we are liable for this." A trial was scheduled to start April 11. Pablo J. Cotto sued the city and five officers in May 2002 in federal court, claiming he was beaten so badly following his Feb. 23, 2002 arrest that he lost consciousness and was taken to Baystate Medical Center by ambulance. Cotto alleged civil rights violations, assault and battery and other claims. Cotto later amended the suit to name eight officers and Chief Paula C. Meara. The officers named were Pedro Mendez, Thomas Hervieux, Berardino Lochiatto, Michael Mitchell and Joshua Haygood, Detective Joseph Brodeur, Sgt. Charles Sheesher and Lt. Eugene C. Dexheimer. In his lawsuit, Cotto, who is seeking $500,000 in damages, stated that soon after he was put in a cell, five white police officers silently entered, grabbed him and struck his face against the sink, dragged him across the floor and punched and kicked him, causing injuries to his right eye and to his neck, shoulder and other limbs. When the beating ended, the lawsuit states, one of the officers sprayed Mace into Cotto's face and his open wounds. "He got beat up to a pulp for no reason whatsoever in a jail cell," said Cotto's lawyer, Harold I. Resnic. Resnic said Cotto used to work at a supermarket. [more] and [more]