A settlement agreement obtained Thursday reveals that Jon "Chris" Erwin of Little Rock has accepted $15,000 from the city to resolve his claims stemming from his 2011 arrest outside a Hillcrest restaurant, where a video showed him being punched in the face seven times by a uniformed, off-duty officer.
The city attorney's office released the agreement in response to a Freedom of Information Act request after a joint stipulation was filed Thursday in Erwin's federal case.
An informal agreement was reached the weekend before Erwin's federal civil rights case went to trial earlier this month against the retired officer, David Hudson, whom the jury cleared of excessive-force allegations. However, attorneys said they couldn't release any details of the settlement until it was final.
Attorneys also said during the trial that Erwin had settled his claims over the weekend with the company that owned Ferneau, the former restaurant at 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd., but no details of any other settlement have been filed in the case.
The settlement was signed Wednesday by Erwin and his attorney, David Williams; Assistant City Attorney Alex Betton; City Manager Bruce Moore; and retired Police Chief Stuart Thomas.
U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. dismissed all claims against Thomas before the trial, and Erwin agreed, as part of the settlement, not to appeal the dismissal.
The settlement specifies that the city doesn't admit any liability related to the incident "and expressly denies such liability." It says the agreement was forged "for the sole purpose of settlement and compromise, specifically recognizing the costs and inconvenience of litigation in this matter."
Hudson, now a bailiff in Pulaski County Circuit Court, was captured on a bystander's camera punching Erwin, now 45, in the face as he held him by the collar outside the restaurant on the night of Oct. 29, 2011. The video was posted on social media, where it was viewed thousands of times and became part of an ongoing national debate about the amount of force law enforcement officers should use during various situations, and at what point the force becomes excessive.
Jurors who heard testimony that Erwin and his friends had annoyed several people inside the restaurant, where they joined a private party to which they hadn't been invited, decided that Hudson's use of force outside the restaurant wasn't unreasonable. Hudson was working off-duty as security for the restaurant but said he was following the Little Rock Police Department's "continuum of force" policy.
Erwin and his friend, Blake Mitchell, were arrested on misdemeanor charges that were later dropped after attorneys complained that prosecutors hadn't promptly turned over all required information.
Hudson testified that he had no choice but to use force to restrain Erwin, who demanded outside the restaurant to know who had asked them to leave and then, according to Hudson, resisted arrest.
Some people who worked at or attended the the private Halloween costume party that night testified that at least some in Erwin's party of four appeared to be drunk. Erwin acknowledged he'd had a few drinks that night, but adamantly denied that he was drunk.
Metro on 06/30/2017