A black NYPD cop who said he was pummeled and choked by his brothers in blue will be compensated for his injuries nearly eight years later.
The city agreed Wednesday to pay Police Officer Larry Jackson a $5 million settlement for the alleged beating and false arrest he endured while off duty in 2010.
“Settling this longstanding case was in the best interest of both parties,” a spokesman for the city Law Department said.
A federal judge recommended the settlement in August — two years after a federal jury awarded Jackson $15 million.
Jackson, 48, claims he was beaten by cops and falsely arrested on Aug. 22, 2010, when, during a birthday party for his daughter at his Queens home, his wife called 911 and said an armed man crashed the party.
When police arrived, Jackson said the officers jumped him even though he told them that he was on the job.
Jackson alleged the cops hit him with their collapsible batons and lifted him up “with an ASP baton around his neck,” according to court papers.
“(The officer) kept telling (Jackson) to relax, and plaintiff kept responding that he was relaxed, but that he could not breathe,” court papers state.
Four years later, on July 17, 2014, Eric Garner died after Staten Island Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo put him in a banned chokehold. Garner moaned, “I can’t breathe” as Pantaleo put an arm around his neck.
Garner’s family settled with the city for $5.9 million.
Jackson, an 18-year veteran, still works in the NYPD’s Transit Bureau. His team was honored last year for arresting a man with a gun.
According to his federal lawsuit, Jackson suffered lasting physical and emotional injuries and was told he would not recover full strength in one hand.
Still, Jackson kept his composure, claiming, “Guys, this was unnecessary … I’m a fellow cop, too,” according to court papers.
In response, the officers pepper-sprayed Jackson and held him until they found his NYPD ID in his pocket. He was never charged with a crime.
He was suspended and lost 20 vacation days after a departmental trial because cops said he resisted arrest. None of the officers involved were charged criminally or disciplined by the department.
Jackson sued a dozen police officers for excessive force and false arrest. On Feb. 3, 2016, a jury decided in Jackson’s favor and awarded him $12.5 million in compensatory damages and $2.6 million in punitive damages.
The cops — who each had to pay $50,000 to $300,000 in damages out of their own pockets — demanded the judge lower the damage amount, claiming that the jury’s decision exceeded what would normally be granted.
Judge Pamela Chen offered to lower the compensatory damages to $2.75 million — an amount usually given in similar cases. But she kept the punitive damages the same.
“Here, defendants’ conduct was reprehensible; their actions were both violent and malicious,” Chen wrote. “This was not an act of mere negligence; it was an assault intended to cause (Jackson) significant physical and emotional harm.”
“(Their) violent and malicious assault on (Jackson) is wholly improper behavior for law enforcement officers and warrants a strong message of deterrence and censure,” she wrote.
Jackson’s attorney, Eric Sanders, said those officers should be punished.
“The city finally reaffirmed the jury’s and court’s decisions loud and clear about the department’s dirty little secret,” Sanders said about the attack on Jackson. “Now, what’s the department going to do? Hold these out-of-control officers legally accountable for violating Mr. Jackson’s civil rights?”
