St. Paul settles lawsuit over skyway stun gun arrest
The city of St. Paul has settled a lawsuit with a man who was stunned with a Taser and arrested in a St. Paul skyway in 2014.
Chris Lollie, who is black, argued in the lawsuit that his constitutional rights had been violated when he was arrested and stunned. He had asked for $500,000 in compensation, as well as punitive damages in the lawsuit.
But the final terms of the settlement have not yet been released. They are sealed under the court agreement that still needs to be approved by the full St. Paul City Council.
Police were called to the skyway by private security guards on Jan. 31, 2014, on reports that Chris Lollie would not leave a public seating area in the First National Bank Building.
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Lollie declined to identify himself to officers, saying he was doing nothing wrong. An officer stunned Lollie with a Taser and he was cited for trespassing, disorderly conduct and obstructing the legal process, although those charges were later dropped.
A cellphone video Lollie later posted of the incident went viral and garnered outcry from civil rights groups.
The St. Paul Police Civilian Internal Affairs Review Commission exonerated the three officers involved in Lollie's arrest in November 2014. Lollie filed the lawsuit against the three officers involved in his arrest and the city of St. Paul in October 2014 in Ramsey County District Court.
The settlement conference started Thursday shortly after 9 a.m. in the United States District Court in St. Paul and didn't end until 5:25 p.m., according to court documents.
Lollie's attorney declined to comment on the settlement at this point. Officials with the city of St. Paul didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.