OAKLAND --

The city of Oakland agreed Tuesday to pay $1.7 million to the family of a man who died after being arrested by Oakland police officers in 2000, a case that a federal appeals court said led to misrepresentations and stonewalling by the Police Department.

Jerry Amaro III, 35, was arrested on suspicion of trying to buy drugs from undercover officers near 73rd Avenue and Holly Street in East Oakland on March 23, 2000. During the arrest, several officers, including now-Capt. Ed Poulson, used excessive force, breaking five of Amaro's ribs and lacerating his left lung, said the family's suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

Over the next month, Amaro complained to his family of chronic chest pain. He was found dead in the basement of a home on 24th Avenue on April 21, 2000. He died of pneumonia caused by fractured ribs, the Alameda County coroner's office said.

None of the officers involved documented the use of force, said the suit, which was filed by attorneys John Burris and Jim Chanin on behalf of Amaro's mother, Geraldine Montoya, and his sister, Stephanie Montoya, both of San Leandro.

In July, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco concluded that a homicide sergeant had withheld critical facts that could have substantiated the family's belief that Amaro had been beaten. Geraldine Montoya said the sergeant had told her that Amaro had "died in the street" following a gang dispute over drugs.

The city had asked the courts to throw out the lawsuit, arguing that the statute of limitations had expired. The appeals court said Amaro's mother could have gone to court years earlier had police not covered up what happened to her son.

The council voted unanimously in closed session Tuesday to approve the settlement.

"It's been a long haul for the family," Burris said Tuesday. "They are satisfied with a just result. They feel that Jerry has been vindicated." Burris said, "This was the most egregious form of police cover-up that I've ever seen in the city of Oakland."