City settles civil rights lawsuit for $49,500

The city recently settled a lawsuit with a man who claimed he was falsely imprisoned following his 2011 arrest on drug charges and a probation violation.

Christina Daly/Herald

The City Council voted on Nov. 17 to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit that was filed by a man who spent 16 months in jail and claimed that he was falsely imprisoned following his arrest on drug charges and a probation violation in 2011.

The council voted unanimously to settle the suit, filed by 34-year-old Pierre Sanchez, for $49,500, saying that it could have been on the hook for millions of dollars had the case gone to trial.

Sanchez filed the suit against the city, Nassau County, and several city and county police and probation officers following his arrest in December 2011 on charges he claimed were false and that were ultimately dropped after crucial evidence was lost.

“It’s important to remember that the allegations in this complaint are just that,” said Rob Agostisi, the city’s corporation counsel. “While I feel strongly that the city would prevail in this trial, I feel just as strongly that we would be making a big mistake if we passed up this opportunity to minimize our exposure.”

The settlement comes at a time when the city is dealing with other ongoing litigation, including a recent $19 million judgment that it must pay to two former owners of the Superblock who claimed they were underpaid when the city acquired the property through eminent domain nearly a decade ago.

According to the lawsuit, Sanchez, a resident of Rockville Centre at the time of his arrest, was pulled over by Long Beach police near Roosevelt Boulevard and East Walnut Street and “eight plainclothes police officers swarmed his car with their guns drawn.” Sanchez claimed that a police officer put a gun to his head while he was in his vehicle, and he was later told while in custody that police found drugs in the car, a plastic bag containing 40 envelopes filled with heroin labeled “money young.”

According to court documents, officers informed Sanchez that they also recovered a gun at the home of his girlfriend and their daughter, where police claimed he lived as well.