Clark County to pay $72K to settle suit over harassment by deputy

VANCOUVER — Clark County, Washington, has agreed to pay $72,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit filed by a man who said an argument with a deputy led to deputies harassing and arresting him over several months.

Steven Klug, a 54-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran, said the run-ins with deputies stemmed from an August 2017 argument with Deputy Jack Phane while Klug checked his vehicle’s oil at a gas station, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. The deputy then pulled Klug over and gave him a traffic ticket.

Klug alleged Phane and two other deputies then conspired to harass and arrest him. Deputies detained him in October 2017, court records show.

Another deputy arrested him in December on charges of intimidating a public servant when Phane tried to pay the traffic ticket. A Clark County judge threw out Klug’s arrest, finding no probable cause.

Klug filed the civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Western Washington in 2019. The county agreed to the settlement this week, according to Klug’s lawyer, Angus Lee.

The settlement came after a U.S. magistrate judge found evidence to support one of Klug’s claims: that Deputy Dan Brown wrongfully detained Klug outside his home while Phane watched from a block away.

If the case went to a jury trial, Judge Richard Creatura wrote, the stop likely would be found to be illegal.

The magistrate judge described the case as two “overbearing” men whose dispute escalated into near violence.