LOS ANGELES (CBS) —  A Los Angeles federal jury awarded $6 million in damages to a Compton school bus driver who claimed he was racially profiled and severely beaten by sheriff deputies after a traffic stop, attorneys said Friday.

Following a three-day civil rights trial, the jury Thursday found Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Sgt. Pablo Partida and Deputy Robert Martinez liable for excessive force and malicious prosecution against 33-year-old Deon Dirks.

Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said the award is “excessive” and the department will likely appeal. The case stems from a traffic stop on Wilmington Avenue in Compton the morning of Nov. 4, 2007.

Dirks contends he was ordered out of his car, pepper-sprayed, punched in the face, arrested and finally charged with assault on a police officer and resisting arrest, according to plaintiff’s attorney Glen Jonas. Dirks also spent five days in jail - as a result he lost his job.  “We believe our deputies’ use of force was appropriate,” Whitmore said.