A federal judge Monday dismissed a lawsuit between the city of Walnut Ridge and a man who said he was assaulted and harassed by a police officer in 2016 after the two parties reached a settlement earlier this month.
Attorneys for Walnut Ridge and Adam Finley, of Smithville, informally advised the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Arkansas that they reached a tentative settlement, prompting U.S. District Judge D.P. Marshall Jr. to dismiss the case with prejudice, court records show.
The lawsuit stated Finley was “roughed up” by Walnut Ridge officer Matthew Mercado during a late-December traffic stop, and that when he went to complain to the city’s police department he was given citations for refusal to submit to arrest and obstructing governmental operations.
Officer Matt Cook wrote the tickets with permission from Police Chief Chris Kirksey, the suit states.
Finley’s attorney, Mark Rees, said Walnut Ridge agreed to pay Finley $57,500 in the agreement, made April 12, the Democrat-Gazette previously reported.
According to M. Keith Wren, an attorney who represented Mercado, Kirksey and Cook, part of the agreement is that Finley will sign a release specifically stating the settlement “cannot be used as, and is not, an admission of liability.”
Rees said he and Finley were satisfied with the deal.
“We’re happy with the settlement,” Rees said in a previous interview. “We think justice was done.”