To The Editor:

The city of Syracuse's share of the settlement of the police brutality case brought by my client against them, Centro, and others is a lump sum of

More was and is to be paid by the other defendants.

The millions of dollars to be paid will allow Brad Hulett to have a much needed structured settlement payment of several thousand dollars a month for the rest of his life. He would prefer to be able to walk without a cane.

Our discovery activity in this case has revealed a very disturbing public problem that merits much more attention from the public officials in charge of investigating and disciplining police officers who disregard their sworn duties to serve and protect citizens. The police department and Centro -- public entities -- failed to secure many video recordings of the incident as it continued outside the bus. Those videos were recorded on a system the SPD and Centro designed together for the purpose of recording incidents in the very spot where Brad was tasered, dragged and asked repeatedly if he wanted another one. They claim those videos were not relevant to the case and that they were recorded over automatically.

It is the job of the mayor, Common Council and others to further investigate the corruption in public agencies like the Syracuse Police Department. There is cause for much further investigation. Hulett and I have done what we can as private citizens empowered to use the civil laws.

My client was injured by unjustified and excessive force that was never properly investigated because of longstanding mismanagement and maladministration of the Syracuse Police Department. Blind eyes are like broken cameras that badly need replacing.

We will make our discovery materials available for other victims of police wrongdoing and their civil rights attorneys who take up their cause.

Now is the time to require that all police officers properly wear and use body cameras and that all video evidence that is captured by the increasing number of surveillance cameras be secured and protected by a well-trained and ethical police force. It is time, too, for real oversight and disciplining of police officers who violate the law.

Let's make it clear that we do not want another one. Most cops are good cops. The bad ones need to be punished or we all suffer.

Rick Guy

Syracuse

The writer, an attorney, is a former Syracuse Corporation Counsel and city councilor.