Seattle to pay $125,000 to man who claims police choked him

SEATTLE – The city of Seattle will pay $125,000 to a man to settle a 2012 federal police-brutality lawsuit that had been previously dismissed.

The Seattle Times reported the settlement came last week, after a panel of judges in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals suggested during oral arguments in March that the city and attorney for David Rengo take the case into mediation.

The case was among those reviewed by the Justice Department during an investigation that led to the city’s consent decree mandating police reforms.

Rengo said he was handcuffed when an officer choked him in the back of a patrol car following his arrest in 2010.

The officer who arrested him was Shandy Cobane, who later drew widespread criticism when a recording emerged of him using inflammatory language against a Latino man during a robbery investigation. The other officer involved was Camilo DePina, who has been the subject of several civil rights lawsuits.

DePina acknowledged he climbed into the rear seat of the patrol car, but he said he had no recollection of what happened next.