SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — An out-of-court settlement has been reached in the civil suit against Spokane police filed by relatives of Otto Zehm, who was beaten to death at the hands of police in 2006.
Details of the settlement will be released later Tuesday.
The settlement follows two days of mediation efforts by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Hogan of Oregon.
The civil lawsuit was filed by attorneys Jeffry Finer and Breean Beggs on behalf of the mother and estate of Zehm, a mentally ill janitor who died two days after the beating.
Police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr., who was convicted last year in federal court of using excessive force and lying to investigators, was named as a defendant in the civil lawsuit, along with eight other members of the department.
