Three Cincinnati families have seen their sons die in confrontations with Cincinnati police officers. They've seen riots and boycotts, a federal investigation and a landmark settlement on police reform.

        But, these families say, they still have not seen justice.

The family of Michael Carpenter, shot by police in 1999: sister Keisha (from left), daughter Tyeisha, mother Elsie, father Fred, sister Andrea, brothers Darryl and Todd. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        They are the Carpenter, the Owensby and the Thomas families. All three families still have lawsuits pending against the city of Cincinnati.

        For Cincinnati taxpayers, that justice could be expensive.

        While the city has refused to release documents related to settlement talks in those cases, each plaintiff has reportedly demanded about $10 million.

        Plaintiff's lawyers said those demand letters have gone unanswered for months and, in one case, years.

        “My son, he's dead. He's not coming back,” said Elsie Carpenter, mother of Michael Carpenter, shot to death during a 1999 traffic stop in Northside. “And they're acting like they just don't care. He's another statistic. No one has ever apologized. It's like they want to sweep it under the rug and forget it. It's like young black life has no value.”

The forgotten case

        The Carpenter case is, in some ways, the most forgotten of the three. Unlike the Owensby and Thomas cases, the two officers involved were reprimanded but never charged with a crime. One has been promoted.

        Because the Carpenter case is the oldest, it also would appear to be the most ripe for a settlement. Because it was made part of the racial profiling lawsuit, it's been put on hold for more than a year. It's now subject to a provision in the collaborative settlement that calls for an “expedited arbitration process.”

        In court documents, the city has denied any wrongdoing on its part. Even though many officers involved in the incidents have been disciplined and even prosecuted, the city argues that an officer's misconduct doesn't necessarily make the city liable for damages.

        In interviews, city officials say they can't let emotional pleas and political pressure influence a legal decision — especially with tens of millions of dollars at stake.

CURRENT CASES

Carpenter v. City of Cincinnati    Plaintiffs: Elsie Carpenter, mother of Michael Carpenter. Represented by Kenneth L. Lawson. Carpenter    Defendants: City of Cincinnati and Officers Michael B. Miller II and Brent McCurley.    Court: U.S. District Court, Cincinnati    Judge: Susan K. Dlott    Incident: March 19, 1999    Filed: March 30, 1999    Trial date: None scheduled    Summary: Mr. Carpenter was driving a car with expired plates in Northside when police began to chase him. Mr. Carpenter pulled over on a narrow side street, but did not get out of his car. Officer McCurley, standing behind the car, shot nine times, saying he feared for his life when the car began to back up. Owensby v. City of Cincinnati    Plaintiffs: Roger D. Owensby Sr., representing his son's estate. Represented by John Helbling and Mark Tillar. Owensby    Defendants: City of Cincinnati, four city officials, 12 Cincinnati police officers, three Golf Manor officers, Huntington Meadows Apartments, three security officers.    Court: U.S. District Court, Cincinnati    Judge: S. Arthur Spiegel    Incident: Nov. 7, 2000    Filed: Nov. 6, 2001    Trial date: None scheduled    Summary: Roger D. Owensby Jr. died after several police officers tackled and handcuffed him in the parking lot of a Roselawn gas station during an arrest. Police officers said he was sought for questioning. Leisure v. City of Cincinnati    Plaintiffs: Angela Leisure is the mother of Timothy D. Thomas. His girlfriend, Monique Wilcox, and his child, Tywon Deamontay Wilcox, are also plaintiffs. Represented by Kenneth L. Lawson. Thomas    Defendants: City of Cincinnati and Officer Stephen Roach.    Court: U.S. District Court, Cincinnati    Judge: Susan K. Dlott    Incident: April 7, 2001    Filed: May 9, 2001    Trial: Sept. 9, 2002    Summary: Police began chasing Mr. Thomas on foot through Over-the-Rhine after he was spotted by an officer who recognized him as being wanted on 14 misdemeanor warrants. Officer Stephen Roach finally caught up with him in a dark alley and fired once. The officer later gave conflicting stories about whether the gun “just went off” or he feared Mr. Thomas had a weapon.

        “I certainly do not think it's appropriate to settle a lawsuit until our lawyers say it it would be prudent,” said City Manager Valerie Lemmie. “They're the professionals. I think we have to let them do their jobs.”

        The city paid $2.36 million to settle lawsuits alleging police misconduct in the previous 10 years, an analysis by The Cincinnati Enquirer found last year. All three of the pending wrongful death cases have the potential to top that with just one check.

        This year, the city has budgeted just $2 million to pay all the judgments against it.

        Because the city is balancing that budget with the help of $54.7 million from the sale of Anthem Inc. stock — a windfall already earmarked for long-neglected neighborhood development projects — big settlements could hit city taxpayers close to home.

        Most settlements in Cincinnati have historically been approved by the city manager without consulting City Council. In these cases, Ms. Lemmie said, she will seek City Council approval of any settlement that would have a “major impact” on the city's budget.

Reforms off table

        Unlike similar cases throughout the country, the lawsuits no longer seek to address systemic reforms of the Police Department that could prevent similar incidents in the future.

        Those issues, lawyers say, were dealt with in two historic agreements the city signed last month with the U.S. Justice Department and the plaintiffs in a racial profiling lawsuit.

        So the only issues left to decide are how much the families of those killed should be compensated — and, as some ask, how much the city should be punished.

        “In our civil system, the only compensation people really can get is monetary compensation,” said John Helbling, the attorney for the family of Roger Owensby Jr., who died after police tried to arrest him in Roselawn in 2000. “A lot of people make it out as a negative: "You just want money.' But that's the only thing you can get.”

        If the cases go to trial later this year, they will raise some painful and unsettling questions: How much culpability do the men have in their own deaths? How much is the life of an unemployed young African-American man worth?
       

Similar cases

        Nationally, similar cases of excessive force by police have been settled for $3.5 million to $18 million, according to Jury Verdict Research, which tracks settlements and verdicts throughout the country.

        “The city has actually gotten off very cheaply in these cases historically. And that's why there has been a typical Cincinnati head-in-the-sand approach,” said Scott Greenwood, a civil liberties lawyer who helped negotiate the racial profiling settlement and consults on some of the wrongful death cases.

        The largest settlement ever in an excessive force lawsuit against Cincinnati police, $700,000, went last year to Robert Wittenberg, a 64-year-old Alzheimer's patient injured in a body-slam arrest in a Madisonville United Dairy Farmers store.

        Before that, the largest settlement was $200,000 in 1997 to Lorenzo Collins, an escaped mental patient shot by police after wielding a brick.

        “What kind of message are we sending about the value of a black life?” asks Nathaniel Livingston Jr., a boycott activist. “Everyone is talking about how we have justice because of the collaborative agreement. But that's not justice for the families.”
       

Applying pressure

        “Settle the lawsuits” has become a familiar refrain for boycott activists like Mr. Livingston. His group, the Coalition for a Just Cincinnati, has made the settlements a precondition to any further talks about boycott issues.

        Mr. Greenwood said he doesn't see a problem with boycott leaders — or anyone else — using political pressure to get the city to settle the lawsuits.

        “It's something that a lot of the community wants to see happen, and it's a legitimate position to take. And it's informed by the city's past practice of stringing these cases along.”

        But Mayor Charlie Luken said that politicizing the cases — and including the settlements in the boycott demands — isn't helping.

        “That's the catch-22 in this thing,” Mr. Luken said. “A demand of the boycotters is to settle the lawsuits, but I feel it's inappropriate for me — or for City Council — to involve ourselves in the lawsuits.”
       

Three decisions

        The city's lawyers are reluctant to discuss their strategies publicly. But top city officials say that settling the three lawsuits — indeed, any lawsuit — would be a complicated process:

        • A legal decision. The city will not settle a frivolous lawsuit or one that the judge is likely to throw out before the case can reach a jury, lawyers say.

        “It's difficult to pay a lot of money up front unless you've gone through the duty of determining the efficacy of the other side's case,” said Pete Heile, an assistant city solicitor.

        • A business decision. If a case is likely to go to a jury, city lawyers research what juries have awarded in comparable cases. If the plaintiff is asking for substantially more than he could reasonably expect to get at trial, the city will not settle.

        In some major cases, some lawyers will use mock juries to determine what a case is worth. Last year, a mock jury assembled by Chicago's lawyers reported that they would award a police shooting victim $42 million. The city settled for $18 million — and considered it a bargain.

        • A political decision. Any settlement would have to be approved by the city manager and, if it would have a major impact on the city's budget, City Council. Either could refuse to settle the case if they felt it would set a bad precedent or the city could not afford it.
       

Side-issue suits

        The wrongful death suits are just part of what's becoming a complicated web of litigation surrounding police-involved deaths. Two lawsuits filed in the last month could make settling the original cases that much more difficult.

        The first, filed April 30 by Angela Leisure — mother of Timothy Thomas — and her lawyer, Ken Lawson, accuses Vice Mayor Alicia Reece of trying to interfere in their wrongful death lawsuit by trying to get Mr. Lawson fired. It seeks more than $55 million. Ms. Reece denies the allegation.

        Another lawsuit, filed Wednesday by Officer Robert “Blaine” Jorg, accuses the city of making him a “scapegoat” in Mr. Owensby's death. That lawsuit seeks $30 million. City attorneys have not yet responded to the suit.

        Meanwhile, the wrongful death cases remain in an evidence-gathering phase, with city lawyers exploring varying legal strategies that would limit taxpayer liability. One popular argument is one of “qualified immunity” — a legal doctrine that makes governments exempt from certain types of lawsuits.

        Plaintiffs' lawyers see it as a stalling tactic.

        “It's almost like the Russian roulette thing,” said Mr. Helbling. “They're trying to see if they can get away with paying nothing.”
       

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