After police fatally shot Geraldine Jackson's 16-year-old son, Herman Beasley Jr., in the back in 1978, the city of Cincinnati paid the Winton Hills mother $3,500 to end the matter in federal court.
To make Michael D. Johnson's case go away, the city paid him $5,000 in 1994 after allegations an officer "wantonly and willfully" ran him over with a police cruiser.
And Darwin Miller underwent surgery to remove a crushed testicle after he was kneed in the groin during a police traffic stop for an improper lane change. The city paid Mr. Miller $44,997 in 1994 to avoid a trial. Another case closed.
Over the years, Cincinnati has managed to resolve its police problems cheaply, even when serious allegations of excessive force and brutality are alleged. Even when civilians die at the hands of police, the premium set by the city or local juries on life is a fraction of the damages demanded.
"I can't answer for other lawyers, but the city is known for not wanting to pay out on cases involving police officers," said Robert Newman, a civil rights lawyer.
Mr. Newman hopes that will change with the pending case of Lorenzo Collins, a 25-year-old man killed by police after fleeing from a psychiatric unit at University Hospital. Mr. Newman is one of the attorneys representing the Collins family.
Many of the alleged victims have challenged the city and opted to settle out of court. Jury trials are many times an unattractive route because many victims of police encounters have checkered pasts, said Marc Mezibov, another civil rights lawyer.
Convincing a jury - particularly a Hamilton County jury - to award damages in those cases is a hard sell.
"This is a tough place," Mr. Mezibov said. "It's a very tough place. . . . It's no Los Angeles here. Johnny Cochran couldn't get away with the things he gets away with there."
A review by The Enquirer of the available records reveals taxpayers are footing the bill mostly to end police misconduct cases prior to trial.
"In settlements like that, the city never admits liability and that is usually spelled out in a stipulation to the settlement," said City Solicitor Fay Dupuis.
Nonetheless, police believe many settlements give an appearance of some degree of guilt on their part.
"A lot of what's settled we don't have control over," said Lt. Col. Theodore Schoch. "We don't like it a lot of times when they settle cases. We really don't."
In the case of Mr. Miller, he filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city for $700,000 after his Nov. 6, 1987, traffic stop on Mitchell Avenue in Avondale. An investigation by the city's Office of Municipal Investigation (OMI) - an independent agency that investigates police complaints - recommended "appropriate administrative action" be taken against the arresting officer, Robert Heinlein.
The force used by the officer - a knee to Mr. Miller's groin - constituted "serious misconduct," OMI concluded.
A doctor at Bethesda Hospital noted Mr. Miller's left testicle was swollen to four times its normal size. Exploratory surgery of the groin revealed a sack of blood and dead tissue.
Years passed before the city settled the case for $44,997 in 1994, according to the city solicitor's records. During the life of the lawsuit, Mr. Miller was offered many settlement proposals. Meanwhile, Officer Heinlein was moving to a new assignment in the homicide unit.
Mr. Miller said he felt as if he were being "suckered."
One proposed settlement by the city offered him $270 a month, but he would have to wait until 2000 to receive the first payment - 13 years after his debilitating injury. He signed another settlement proposal that involved an annuity, but now finds the sum appeared far greater than it actually was.
If he is alive, he is expected to receive a final payment of $35,000 in 2020.h
It doesn't begin, he said, to compensate him for lasting pain, suffering and a reduced quality of life.
"If you ain't never had that much money in your life at one time, it sounds like a lot of money," he said. "But it was nothing. They knew they had me suckered."
Each lawsuit against the city involves vastly different circumstances that affect the outcome. Some are simply weak cases, Mr. Newman said. In some actions, attorneys get cold feet and settle when faced with the cost of proceeding to trial.
Many of the complainants in civil rights actions against the police are working-class or poor people. "Upper middle-class people don't have encounters with police to the extent that poor people do," Mr. Newman said.
And although the city's payouts appear small, people living in poverty view them as being better than nothing.
"When you represent poor people, you find that poor people have different economic needs than others," Mr. Newman said. "When you have $20,000 put on the table and you don't have a job, don't have a car, it's hard to turn it down."
In another case, the city settled in 1986 with Donald Tye Jr. after police allegedly assaulted him at his Walnut Hills business and falsely arrested him. The businessman was in better financial shape than other complainants, but still found challenging the city difficult.
He settled for a few thousand dollars, which was less than 10 percent of the $70,000 sought in his lawsuit. "I don't think anybody has ever gotten any real money out of the city of Cincinnati," he said.
Mr. Tye's case was just one of many cases the city has settled without much ado.
For $30,000, the city made the rape case of a 24-year-old Millvale woman go away in 1994. In contrast to a typical police brutality case, this was a case that centered on what police allegedly refused to do.
The woman was arrested for driving while intoxicated in May 1993 and taken to a Price Hill police station at night. After an hour, she was told to make her way home on foot through an unfamiliar part of town. Police allegedly wouldn't allow her to use the telephone to call for a ride.
A man raped her along the way. An officer was reprimanded.
Again, the city paid Courtney Williams, a third-shift highway maintenance worker, $4,000 to end his case against police.
Mr. Williams was picking up trash along Interstate 71 near Mount Adams in 1993 when he allegedly was assaulted by police, said James Grey Wolf, his attorney. Police were investigating a purse snatching in Mount Auburn and were looking for a black male suspect when they noticed Mr. Williams working on the interstate.
Mr. Williams suffered a shoulder injury when he was allegedly assaulted by the officer.
Today's coverage
Police suits settled cheaply STORY
Small price for death and deep wounds STORY
Erring officers punished lightly STORY
Independent watchdog has little bite STORY
Case stories STORY
Sunday 
