Columbus Settles Lawsuit Alleging Police Use Of Excessive Force

Columbus City Council last night without comment approved a 30 thousand dollar legal settlement of a lawsuit filed against police by a man who claimed an officer assaulted him over a littering charge. The 2013 lawsuit by Joseph Hines accused officers of assaulting him in 2012 after they found he had an open container of beer on a OSU campus area sidewalk. He says he was sat on, assaulted until losing consciousness, and hospitalized for three days. Hines later pleaded guilty to a charge of littering and paid a 100 dollar fine. A jury found officer Thomas DeWitt used excessive force and awarded the payment last September. DeWitt remains on the job. Hines had sought several million dollars in damages.