Columbus pays $350,000 settlement for wrongful arrest, approves non-citizens for program

Columbus City Council on Monday approved to pay $350,000 from the general fund for a man who was found to have been falsely arrested and served five nights in jail after two Columbus Police officers identified him as the man driving a car recklessly in 2018.

The man's roommate later admitted that he was the person driving the car, according to a court document.

Terry Scott Caskey brought the federal civil rights suit against Columbus Police Officers Nathan Fenton and Charles R. Harshbarger, who a federal magistrate ruled were required to turn over eye exams, over their objections, to discern if they could have positively identified the driver at night while they chased his car.

Caskey alleged that it would have been impossible for the officers to positively identify the driver, leading to his false arrest over the chase that occurred Nov. 11, 2018, which began over a burned-out taillight that the officers noticed as they followed a car belonging to Caskey down Dana Avenue in Franklinton.

"The Officers then observed the Altima make a couple of minor misdemeanor traffic violations and initiated their lights and made two audible siren blasts to initiate a traffic stop," according to an explanation attached to the ordinance Monday. "At this time, the Altima failed to stop and appeared to be fleeing from the Officers’ visible and audible signals to pull over.

"The Officers then observed the Altima make some dangerous driving maneuvers, including failing to wait for a vehicle in front of them to complete a turn before making its own turn into a lane for travel in the opposite direction and turning when others had the rights of way, causing other cars to stop to avoid a collision."

The officers entered the car's license plate into a state database and saw a photo of Caskey as the owner, and believed that the photo matched the man they saw driving, the city said. A jury found in favor of the officers on counts of malicious prosecution, but in favor of Caskey on the claim of unlawful arrest.

The criminal case against Caskey, a third-degree felony for "Failure to Comply with an Order or Signal of Police," was ultimately dismissed. The $350,000 jury award was all for compensatory damages, and nothing was given in punitive damages, according to the ordinance.

The City Council members have complained about the large numberof lawsuits, amounting to millions of dollars, the city has had to pay out over the last few years to settle complaints against city police officers.

Council allows non-citizens to qualify as minorities

Also Monday, council approved on a 5-2 vote changes to the rules governing minority- and women-owned business contract set-asides, including for the first time allowing non-citizens to be included in the groups targeted to receive city contracts.

Members of the public spoke on both sides of the issue. Opposed were the members of the Columbus NAACP and certain businesses owners. In favor were groups that work with non-citizens.

Lara Baker-Morrish, chief counsel with the City Attorney's office, said getting rid of the citizenship requirement would eliminate the risk that a non-citizen could sue the city for not being allowed into the program, which offers a variety of benefits including being selected as sub-contractors to help meet city participation goals. Another city code says city employees can't ask questions about citizenship to anyone applying for a service, Baker-Morrish said.

Nana Watson, president of the Columbus NAACP, asked that the changes be tabled until there is a better community conversation with Black businesses. Watson said the NAACP is "extremely concerned" that the measure is being voted on immediately after the November election, rather than before it.

Judith Cockrell, executive director of Elevate Northland, which supports small businesses, thanked members for the change to make Columbus a welcoming city to immigrants.

Member Lourdes Barroso de Paddilla said the change only applies to non-citizens already legally allowed to do government business in Ohio, such as those granted long-term residency status. Members Shayla Favor and Mitch Brown voted no.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Council OK's $350,000 deal for 2018 wrongful arrest