Louima Settlement Reached
Abner Louima, who was tortured in a police station bathroom in 1997 in a notorious brutality case, will receive $8.7 million in a settlement announced Thursday.
The settlement was finalized in a Brooklyn federal court after months of negotiations between attorneys for Louima and those for the city and Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the police union, said Louima family lawyer Sanford Rubenstein.
"It's been a long arduous effort that's finally produced a settlement," Rubenstein said. "I hope this settlement will begin a new drive toward seeking permanent change for the better in police-community relations."
In Brooklyn federal court, U.S. Magistrate Cheryl Pollak signed off on the deal that cost the City of New York $7.1 million, the most ever paid to a brutality victim, and the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association $1.6 million for a total of $8.7 million to be paid to Louima.
Louima, Haitian immigrant, sued for $155 million in 1998, claiming officers at Brooklyn's 70th Precinct conspired to create a "blue wall of silence and lies to obstruct justice." The civil rights suit charged police and PBA officials with condoning an "environment in which the most violent police officers believed they would be insulated" from prosecution.
In three criminal trials, he testified about an ordeal stemming from his arrest in a street brawl outside a Brooklyn nightclub on Aug. 9, 1997. Charges against Louima were later dropped.
The prisoner was handcuffed and taken to the police station. Once there, Officer Justin Volpe — mistakenly believing Louima had punched him — sought revenge by sodomizing Louima with a broken broomstick and threatening to kill him if he reported it.
The brutality triggered angry protests and led to convictions of six officers.
Volpe, who pleaded guilty, is serving 30 years. A jury found another officer, Charles Schwarz, guilty of pinning Louima down during the assault; four other officers were convicted of lying to authorities about what happened.
In March, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani confirmed he had authorized a payout after negotiators struck a tentative deal. But talks broke down, reportedly because Louima was upset by news accounts saying he had abandoned demands for reforms in the way the New York Police Department deals with officers accused of abuse.
Attorneys for the city and the PBA both said the settlement did not impose any reforms on the Police Department. City lawyer Lawrence Kahn said those changes were already in place before the agreement with Louima.
"We've enhanced training and monitoring to ensure something like this will never happen again," Kahn said. "There is no link between the lawsuit and the changes."
Community activists immediately expressed unhappiness that the deal would not address changes in NYPD operations. Soon after it was announced, Louima and his attorneys reconsidered.
It was not immediately clear how the new settlement would address issues involving NYPD perations.
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