Orlando Pays $30K in Police Brutality Complaint

The city of Orlando has agreed to pay $30,000 to a 37-year-old Orlando man whose jaw was broken when former police Officer William Escobar kicked him in the face, according to the man’s attorney.

The settlement was with Kentluku Nugent, an ex-convict who was taken to an Orlando hospital Jan. 1, 2013, shortly after a foot chase and his arrest, records show.

Escobar is the former Orlando officer who was video-recorded hitting and kicking another unarmed man, Refus Holloway, in a separate incident last year. Holloway was handcuffed at the time.

Escobar was awaiting trial on battery and perjury charges in that case.

His attorney, Mark Horwitz, did not return a phone call.

There was no video-recording of Escobar arresting Nugent about midnight Dec. 31, 2012, said Travis Williams, Nugent’s attorney, but there were several witnesses.

In his arrest report Escobar wrote that Nugent was injured because Officer Jonathan Mills shocked him with a stun gun, and Nugent fell and struck his mouth on a concrete sidewalk.

But Williams said the injury was from Escobar kicking Nugent in the face after his client was already on the ground.

Nugent was taken by ambulance to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he was admitted, Escobar wrote in his report.

Escobar had gone to a motel on Orange Blossom Trail because of a domestic-violence complaint involving another man, he wrote in his arrest report.

Nugent matched the description of the suspect, Escobar wrote, but when the officer began to pat him down for weapons, Nugent thrust his wallet at the officer in a way that made Escobar think he was about to get hit, so he tried to force Nugent to the ground, the officer wrote.

Nugent then started running.

During the foot chase Escobar twice fired a stun gun at him but that didn’t stop him, neither did a shot of chemical spray, Escobar wrote.

Mills then shot Nugent with his stun gun, and the suspect went down, Escobar wrote. Nugent still resisted and Mills and Officer Joel Williams hit him with their batons and chemical spray, they wrote in separate reports.

The settlement was signed July 6. Nugent had not filed a lawsuit against the city but had filed notice of his intent to sue.

In an email City Attorney Mayanne Downs said the city disputed Nugent’s allegations but settled the case for “less than nuisance value.”

Police department spokeswoman Sgt. Wanda Ford would not comment, except to say that the settlement was a decision made by the city’s risk-management department.

Nugent has a long criminal record that includes arrests for marijuana possession, battery and resisting arrest. He spent five years in state prison following a 2002 attempted escape arrest in Maitland.

He had tried to bolt from the back of a patrol car after being taken into custody for driving an unregistered car with no license plate and with marijuana in his pocket, according to his arrest report.

In this case, he was accused of resisting arrest without violence, but after reviewing evidence, the State Attorney’s Office opted to file no charge.

From Orlando Sentinel