A Stockbridge woman was paid $350,000 to settle a lawsuit brought after an Atlanta police officer slammed the driver to the ground and arrested her in an incident caught on camera.
The settlement reached with Diana Dietrich-Barnes was initially secret, but the insurance carrier, AIG Aviation, gave the city permission Tuesday to release the terms, said Jerry DeLoach of Atlanta's law department.
News of the settlement comes just a few days after Atlanta's civil service board ruled that there was not enough evidence to fire Officer Terrance Alexander for his treatment of Dietrich-Barnes, despite the images videotaped on Nov. 2, 2004, and broadcast nationwide. The city is appealing that decision, so Alexander has not been reinstated with the Atlanta Police Department, DeLoach said.
Dietrich-Barnes' attorney, Harlan Miller, would only say Tuesday the "lawsuit against the city ... has been resolved. I can't talk about it more than to say it was resolved."
But he added that Dietrich-Barnes was satisfied with the settlement and ready to move on with her life.
"She is still trying to get over it," Miller said.
At the time of the incident, Alexander was not officially assigned to the airport but was working a second job there, directing traffic.
Dietrich-Barnes had circled the airport several times looking for her 78-year-old mother, who was arriving from Houston, when she stopped her vehicle at the curb to check her itinerary. Alexander told Dietrich-Barnes to move, and the passenger-side outside mirror of her SUV bumped him when she started to back up, she said.
That is when Alexander pulled her from her car, threw her to the pavement, and handcuffed and arrested her.
Alexander's supervisors let her go after reviewing the tape and soon the APD opened an internal investigation of Alexander, who had been either reprimanded or suspended without pay 13 times for violating departmental rules since 2001.
Alexander, who could not be reached Tuesday, was fired in May for using unnecessary force, but successfully appealed the decision by Police Chief Richard Pennington.
Since the incident, officers at the airport have undergone training to help them avoid potentially volatile encounters with travelers rushing to and from the airport.
The settlement reached with Diana Dietrich-Barnes was initially secret, but the insurance carrier, AIG Aviation, gave the city permission Tuesday to release the terms, said Jerry DeLoach of Atlanta's law department.
News of the settlement comes just a few days after Atlanta's civil service board ruled that there was not enough evidence to fire Officer Terrance Alexander for his treatment of Dietrich-Barnes, despite the images videotaped on Nov. 2, 2004, and broadcast nationwide. The city is appealing that decision, so Alexander has not been reinstated with the Atlanta Police Department, DeLoach said.
Dietrich-Barnes' attorney, Harlan Miller, would only say Tuesday the "lawsuit against the city ... has been resolved. I can't talk about it more than to say it was resolved."
But he added that Dietrich-Barnes was satisfied with the settlement and ready to move on with her life.
"She is still trying to get over it," Miller said.
At the time of the incident, Alexander was not officially assigned to the airport but was working a second job there, directing traffic.
Dietrich-Barnes had circled the airport several times looking for her 78-year-old mother, who was arriving from Houston, when she stopped her vehicle at the curb to check her itinerary. Alexander told Dietrich-Barnes to move, and the passenger-side outside mirror of her SUV bumped him when she started to back up, she said.
That is when Alexander pulled her from her car, threw her to the pavement, and handcuffed and arrested her.
Alexander's supervisors let her go after reviewing the tape and soon the APD opened an internal investigation of Alexander, who had been either reprimanded or suspended without pay 13 times for violating departmental rules since 2001.
Alexander, who could not be reached Tuesday, was fired in May for using unnecessary force, but successfully appealed the decision by Police Chief Richard Pennington.
Since the incident, officers at the airport have undergone training to help them avoid potentially volatile encounters with travelers rushing to and from the airport.
unnethe:
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