Seattle to pay student for arrest

SEATTLE — Seattle is paying $100,000 to a University of Washington geography student who suffered broken bones in his face when he was arrested in 2012.

David Pontecorvo said he was pulled off his front porch by officers and beaten with fists, batons and a flashlight because he was videotaping as they arrested one of his friends during a party, The Seattle Times reported.

He underwent surgery in June to repair his damaged sinuses, his lawyer said.

The police responded to a noise complaint at Pontecorvo’s West Seattle home early on Sept. 22, 2012, and the partyers turned down the music. But as officers were leaving, someone turned it back up. The police returned and arrested one of the people in the house.

Pontecorvo, then 19, and another friend began recording the arrest on their cellphones. Pontecorvo was inside the house filming the action on his front porch when an officer, identified as Christine Nichols, told him he was going to be arrested for “obstructing.”

The shaky video shows Nichols pushing him toward the stairs.

The pair move off-camera, and another officer is heard yelling, “I’m coming, Christine!”

Pontecorvo is then heard yelling that he’s not resisting and asking why the officers are using force: “I’m not doing anything wrong! I’m not resisting! Why are you doing this?!”

According to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, Pontecorvo said that at the bottom of the stairs he was grabbed by Officer Michael Renner, who took him to the ground. Renner, Nichols, Sgt. Joseph Maccarrone, Alvaro Ferreira and others beat him, the lawsuit alleged.

Medics who examined him at the West Precinct said he needed to go to the hospital.

He was treated in the emergency room for a broken nose, a broken cheekbone and other injuries, and then transported to jail, where he spent the weekend, said his attorney, Daniel Fjelstad.

Pontecorvo was never charged, according to the lawsuit.