Luis Jimenez-Jarmillo.
An Ecuadorean immigrant who claims a cop beat him up for no reason is getting a $20,000 payment to dismiss his pending legal action.
Luis Jimenez-Jarmillo said that, in 2010, then-Officer Martin Feliciano slammed him into a car then threw him to the ground without cause in front of Jimenez-Jarmillo’s children.
After nearly a decade pleading his case before state and federal judges, Jimenez-Jarmillo accepted a $20,000 deal to finally let it go last month, according to a settlement the Independent obtained through the Connecticut Freedom of Information Act.
By taking the money, Jimenez-Jarmillo released the police department from “any and all claims” dating back to “the beginning of time.” He also agreed not to publicize the deal.
“I understand that this settlement is the compromise of a disputed claim, and that the payment is not to be construed as an admission of liability on the part of the persons, firms and corporations hereby released, by whom liability is expressly denied,” the release reads.
“I … further agree that the terms and conditions of this settlement are confidential in nature, and therefore, agree not to authorize or encourage the revealing or publication by others any information regarding this settlement, except as required by law,” the release goes on. “This document is confidential and shall not be provided to anyone other than the parties to this litigation, their counsel, and the defendants’ insurer, except pursuant to a lawful subpoena or court order.”
On a spring evening in 2010, Jimenez-Jarmillo, a volunteer coach, was taking his two kids, ages 10 and 13, to a soccer game at Criscuolo Field. He was running late; someone called him on his cell phone asking him where he was.
Feliciano, meanwhile, was standing outside his cruiser on James Street, as he saw Jimenez-Jarmillo drive by talking on his cell. Feliciano told him, in Spanish, to put the phone down and waved him over. Jimenez-Jarmillo smiled, pulled his Mazda to the curb, and exited.
The stories diverge after that.
Feliciano: “He put a grin on his face, a smirk. He immediately jumps out of the car. He clenches his fist and pushes me. He screamed.”
Jimenez-Jarmillo: “Because of my good nature, what I did was to smile and then park right in front of him. … [He] jumped on my back. He grabbed me to the neck. He started slamming me against the car.”
Whoever started it, both admitted they tussled, and Jimenez-Jarmillo ended up flat on the ground. With assistance from Officer Richard Gonzalez, Feliciano pressed a police baton against Jimenez-Jarmillo’s wrist, handcuffed him, and wrote him up for various offenses, including interfering with police, disorderly conduct and assault on a police officer.
A year later, attorney Paul Garlinghouse filed a civil rights case in federal court seeking $1.5 million in compensatory damages.
In the 2011 complaint, Garlinghouse called the cops’ behavior “extreme and outrageous.” He charged the department’s upper ranks with “deliberate indifference to the rights of persons [by] failing to investigate the allegations of police brutality and failing to discipline, supervise or train police officers who have numerous brutality complaints.”
The city’s lawyers maintained that the officers had probable cause to make an arrest and that they used reasonable force in getting him in cuffs. They added that officers are entitled to “qualified immunity” as government employees to make mistakes on the job that aren’t clearly unconstitutional.
That suit has taken years to near its trial date, as the underlying criminal charges against Jimenez-Jarmillo were tried before three different judges. They were initially dismissed, appealed, retried and finally retried again. Each time, Jimenez-Jarmillo was cleared.
The parties agreed to dismiss the case with prejudice on Jan. 16, with each covering their own attorney fees and court costs.
Felciano, a patrol officer in the K‑9 unit, was promoted to the rank of sergeant last month.
This case was a loser for Garlinghouse (as well as the city).