COVID-rules bust costs city $120G

A Lower East Side man and his girlfriend received a $120,000 settlement from the city for an ex-NYPD officer’s social-distancing arrest, a city Law Department spokeswoman said Friday.

Shakiem Brunson, 31, and his girlfriend Ashley Serrano, 22, sued the police department and the city last June in Manhattan Federal Court, a month after their arrests on May 2 outside a deli on E. Ninth St. and Avenue D.

Brunson got $70,000 in the settlement, and Serrano got $50,000, the Law Department said.

Footage of the incident shows NYPD Officer Francisco Garcia manhandling Serrano before joining his fellow plainclothes officers in dragging Brunson to the ground.

The cop, reported at the time to weigh at least 250 pounds, is then seen placing his knee on Brunson’s neck.

When bystander Donni Wright walks up to Garcia, the seething ex-cop punched him several times in the head and torso. Wright is also suing the city and the NYPD over the incident.

Brunson was stopped by the plainclothes cops because he was not following state-mandated social-distancing protocol and possessed marijuana, according to the NYPD’s version of the incident.

Brunson, in his lawsuit, further charged Garcia and his fellow officers with beating him off-camera in a police cruiser and back at the PSA 4 precinct, according to papers. He also accused them of stealing $800 from him.

Garcia was stripped of his gun and placed on modified duty. He resigned from the NYPD before his misconduct trial was set to begin in October.

A spokesman for the Police Benevolent Association, which represented Garcia, declined comment on the settlement, to which Garcia is to contribute $2,500 from his own pocket, a source said.

Unusually, the city declined to represent Garcia in the case.

Brunson and Serrano’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a Daily News request for comment.