St. Paul is about to approve a $270,000 police brutality settlement for a woman who required more than 300 stitches after she said a police officer threw her through a glass door and then falsely claimed she caused her own injuries by tripping.

Attorney Bob Bennett of Minneapolis represented Cosetta Morris, who required surgery and stitches inside her arm as well as on the skin. "It's a decent deal. ... She was cut really bad," Bennett said.

The City Council is expected to approve the settlement at its Wednesday meeting.

The amount is the same as the city paid in 2004 to settle a brutality lawsuit by Robert Kearney. He said two police officers pushed him down a flight of stairs and ignored his request for medical attention.

The $270,000 settlement is second only to the $400,000 the city gave to the family of Charles Craighead, who was mistakenly shot and killed by police as he tried to protect his fiancé from a carjacker in 2001.

City Council President Kathy Lantry said the council authorized the settlement discussions and the amount in a closed-door session in January.

"These are always difficult," Lantry said, adding that the council must weigh what they believe happened, what can be proven in court and possible attorneys fees. But still, "We don't often settle."

On March 15, 2009, Morris and her partner got into a fight in their home on the 400 block of Minnehaha Av. E. Morris' partner, Michelle Williams, called police, who arrived to find the door to the apartment open.

Williams was seated on the couch and Morris was pressed against her trying to remove a ring from her finger.

The lawsuit said that from the officers' vantage point and Williams' screams, no "reasonable officer could deduce that [Morris] was either choking Williams or otherwise obstructing her ability to breathe," the complaint said.

Police officer Adam Bailey told Morris twice to get off Williams, but before she could comply, the officer "forcefully grabbed her forearm from behind and violently and unlawfully flung her to the floor in an uncontrolled manner," the lawsuit said.

Morris was flung several feet across the living room and her arm went through a glass pane, causing "profuse bleeding."

Bailey then turned Morris over, put his knee in her back and held her face down. Morris was taken to the hospital while the second officer "attempted to convince" Williams that Morris tripped and fell into the glass, the complaint said.

The officers "further attempted to cover up" their "unlawful behavior" by reporting that Morris was choking Williams when they arrived, the complaint said.

Morris was not charged with any crime related to the incident.

She had surgery to repair tendon damage and the lawsuit said the injury hindered her work as a pension processor.

The three-page settlement includes the city's denial of liability or wrongdoing. City attorney Sara Grewing declined to comment.

Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747