NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for the city, police and Abner Louima, who was tortured with a broken broomstick in a station house bathroom, worked to hammer out terms of a tentative settlement in a lawsuit filed by the Haitian immigrant.
The parties have reached a deal worth about $9 million, legal sources who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press. The settlement would be paid jointly by the city and the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, a union that represents the city's officers, the sources said.
The lawyers met for two hours Wednesday with a federal magistrate to discuss the settlement. Citing a gag order, lawyers refused to discuss the case after emerging from the closed hearing. They were due to return to court Thursday.
Louima was arrested in a brawl outside a Brooklyn nightclub in 1997. He was handcuffed and taken to the station house of Brooklyn's 70th Precinct.
Officer Justin Volpe — mistakenly believing Louima had punched him — sought revenge by sodomizing Louima with a broken broomstick. He pleaded guilty and is serving 30 years.