STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - The city will pay $30,000 to settle a lawsuit by a man who said police tossed him in a bedbug-infested holding cell as punishment for mouthing off, according to the man's lawyer.

The episode took place just a few weeks before a bedbug infestation forced the NYPD to fumigate the holding cells of the 120th Precinct.

"Oh, you think you're a smart ass, I've got something special for you," an officer told Eric Marrero, 22, moments before placing him into the cell on June 7, 2011, Marrero had alleged in a civil rights suit filed last year.

Court records show Marrero and the city came to terms on March 29, and the deal will go through if Marrero files a stipulation of dismissal by April 29.

"While both sides have agreed on a settlement amount, we cannot comment or confirm details right now because the agreement is not finalized. It is important to remember that a settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing, and many nuanced factors go into the decision to settle a case," said Carolyn Depoian, an attorney with the city's Law Department.

Marrero's attorney, Jason Leventhal, confirmed the settlement amount on Thursday, saying, "Both Mr. Marrero and I appreciate the city's efforts to reasonably resolve this matter," Leventhal said. "I think it's a clear indication that there was strong evidence of wrongdoing."

In early July 2011, just a few weeks after Marrero's arrest, the NYPD temporarily shut down the precinct's holding cells for fumigation and rerouted its prisoners to the 61st Precinct on Coney Island.

The holding cells at the 120th Precinct are notoriously grimy -- in November 2011, the city paid a $4,000 settlement to a masseuse who claimed she'd been held in a "filthy, unhygienic cell" there and forced to clean an overflowing toilet.

According to Marrero's lawsuit, he was a passenger in a car stopped by police at the intersection of Woodland Avenue and Giffords Lane.

They ordered everyone out and searched the vehicle, and found drugs on the driver and in the car near the driver, who told him the drugs belonged to him and him alone, Leventhal has said.

Nevertheless, police arrested Marrero, and once he returned to the precinct, officers took his belt, as he was being escorted to the holding cells, the lawsuit alleged. His pants fell to his ankles, and he tripped down a set of stairs, which prompted an exchange between him and one of the officers.

That's what led to the "smart ass" remark, the lawsuit alleged.

After 30 minutes in the infested cell, Marrero "received multiple bed bug bites," the lawsuit alleged, and throughout the night he "was repeatedly and severely bitten by bugs."

Leventhal said he suffered no permanent injury.

The charges against Marrero were ultimately dropped in April 2012, though a search of court records show he still has two open misdemeanor cases against him on Staten Island -- one for a February weapon possession arrest, another for a March drug possession arrest.