Posted by Editor | Posted in Personal Injury News
After much hard work on its behalf, the Poughkeepsie Journal recently obtained documents revealing that a man who alleged police brutality against two Beacon, New York police officers was awarded a $48,000 personal injury settlement this last January. Samuel Parker received the settlement as part of a federal lawsuit in which he claimed that police officer Shawn Barry held him up at the city’s police station house so that officer Frank Pompilio could punch him. The story said that both sides agreed to the settlement and detailed how Pompilio denied wrongdoing in previous interviews.
Court records detailed that Parker was taken into custody when he was 17 years old on January 8, 2003. He was charged with misdemeanor counts of possessing a weapon and controlled substance, and resisting arrest. He later reached a guilty plea to disorderly conduct and paid a $60 fine. The story said that the majority of Parker’s claim was paid by the city’s insurance carrier and that the city paid a $5,000 deductible.
Parker’s police brutality lawsuit was one of four against the Beacon PD. Barry is no longer with the Beacon PD and is now a member of the Village of Walden Police Department. Pompilio is on medical leave from the Beacon PD.
Of further interest, the Poughkeepsie Journal had to jump through hoops to get the documents about this case from the city. After seeking copies of the settlement agreement and other related documents under the state’s Freedom of Information Law, the city denied the request and said that it couldn’t do so because its lawyer had retained the documents. Robert Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government, disagreed and said that whoever had the documents was irrelevant since the city of Beacon was bound by the Freedom of Information Law to disclose the records.
After the newspaper filed an appeal, the city received copies of the document from the city’s insurance agent. Journal Executive Editor Stuart Shinske said that he was glad the city released the documents but maintained they should have been released regardless of who possessed them.
