Excessive-force lawsuit settled for $290K
The excessive-force case filed against the city of Loveland and four police officers by a Loveland man has been settled for slightly less than $300,000.
Preston Sowl, a Loveland resident, filed a lawsuit against the city and four officers — Paul Ashe, Benjamin DeLima, Clint Schnorr and Brian Bartnes — last year in which he alleged that they violated his constitutional rights by detaining and injuring him after he declined to talk to them while at the scene of an accident in September 2019.
According to a release from Sarah Schielke, Sowl’s attorney, the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Denver alleged Sowl’s rights were violated under the First, Fourth and 14th amendments.
The lawsuit alleged that Sowl declined to provide more information upon Ashe’s request at the scene of an accident, which led officers to detain Sowl, injuring him in the process and leading to a shoulder replacement surgery.
Ashe cited Sowl with obstruction of a peace officer and resisting arrest, but the 8th Judicial District attorney’s office later dismissed the charge, according to the complaint filed.
City Attorney Moses Garcia told the ReporterHerald the case was settled for $290,000.
He added that in the settlement documents it explicitly states that it is not an admission of guilt on behalf of the city or the four Loveland officers.
Instead, the decision to settle was made on the balance between the cost of a court case and the potential outcomes, Garcia said.
“Based on the circumstances … this was one probably not to take litigation,” Garcia said.
Schielke did not immediately respond to the Reporter-Herald for comment but in the release said the city had responded to the lawsuit by denying the allegations.
“Although arrested, Mr. Sowl was not prosecuted for any conduct he engaged in on September 22, 2019,” Schielke wrote in the release. “The settlement ends the continuation of lengthy and expensive litigation, and resolution is deemed to be in the best interest of all parties.”