Terence Kirkpatrick sued the city of Mesa last year after he was injured during a scuffle with police.
The city of Mesa has agreed to settle in a lawsuit with a man who says police officers broke his wrist while arresting him for outstanding warrants.
According to The Associated Press, the city agreed to a settlement on Feb. 12 but has not revealed the dollar amount. The lawsuit asked for a jury trial and sought “compensatory and punitive damages,” according to the Phoenix New Times.
Terence Kirkpatrick filed the lawsuit in May 2019, more than a year after the incident occurred. In it, he alleges officers ignored his requests to loosen his handcuffs 15 times.
In November 2017, officers were responding to reports of a dispute between Kirkpatrick and another man at an apartment in Mesa. The officers tried to arrest Kirkpatrick once they found out he had misdemeanor warrants on his criminal record. According to The AP, the warrants were for not appearing in court for traffic violations.
Body camera footage of the interaction shows a scuffle between police and Kirkpatrick, after which, a handcuffed Kirkpatrick complained that his wrist hurt.
An officer replied, “It’s supposed to.”
Kirkpatrick was later charged with two counts of both aggravated assault on an officer and resisting arrest. He pleaded guilty to a felony charge of resisting arrest, but that was later downgraded to a misdemeanor, according to the wire service.
The city said in court documents that officers did not use excessive force and Kirkpatrick escalated the situation by not complying.
Kirkpatrick’s case was one of several incidents of reported police brutality that occurred under Chief Ramon Batista. Batista called for investigations into some of the incidents and was criticized by officers and their advocates for not supporting his employees.
Nearly 100% of officers said they had no confidence in Batista in a vote the Mesa Police Association held in June 2019. He resigned in November.
Jessica Swarner is an associate editor for The Copper Courier. She is an ASU alumna and previously worked at KTAR News 92.3 FM in Phoenix.
