SPRINGFIELD – A Springfield man settled a federal civil rights lawsuit with the city and Police Department after he was shot in the hand during a traffic stop in 2008.



Louis Jiles, 20, who is black, agreed to drop a police brutality complaint he filed against two white officers and the city after officials agreed to pay an undisclosed amount of money.



Jiles' attorney, Perman Glenn III, would only say the settlement was "under six figures" and was agreed upon after a three-hour negotiation before a federal magistrate judge on Friday.



A lawyer for the city, John T. Liebel, confirmed an agreement had been reached but would not cite the dollar amount pending a signed settlement decree.



"It's significantly south of $99,999," Liebel said.



The settlement comes amid intense police scrutiny after another black suspect was beaten by a patrolman wielding a flashlight during a traffic stop in November.



A police report states Officer Jeffrey M. Asher hit a drug suspect, Melvin Jones III, several times after Jones grabbed another officer's gun during a struggle. The incident was caught on videotape by a bystander and sparked a public furor when the tape was released to the media.



While Jones' extensive criminal record has muddied the public debate over the incident, Glenn said Jiles had no such history.



"Nothing. He was charged with disrupting a public assembly as a kid," Glenn said.



Jiles was pulled over on Kensington Avenue after running a red light on July 5, 2008. Officer Steven Hill fired three times after he mistook a beer bottle in Jiles' car for a gun, officials said previously.



A police report said Jiles ignored a command by two patrolmen to put his hands up and reached into the back seat. However, Glenn said a forensic expert found that all the blood spatter was on the dashboard, suggesting Jiles' hands never left the steering wheel.



"This case really rose and fell on forensic evidence," Glenn said.



The settlement followed probes by the district attorney's office, police supervisors and an independent arbitrator – all of whom cleared Hill and partner David Barton of wrongdoing.



"It was an unfortunate incident. But not all unfortunate incidents amount to a civil rights violation," Liebel said, noting that the settlement did not include any admission of wrongdoing or liability by the city or the police department.



Barton and Hill were briefly placed on desk duty during the flurry of investigations that followed the shooting, but were put back on streets last year.



Glenn said Jiles has fully recovered from the gunshot wound and has regained full use of his hand. Jiles declined to be interviewed, and simply said: "I won," when a reporter asked for a comment.



He pleaded guilty to running a red light. Other criminal charges linked to the stop were dropped.

