CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cuyahoga County commissioners on Wednesday approved a $1.5 million settlement with Montgomery Ward, a 30-year-old Cleveland man who was shot in the face during a raid on his home in 2008 by a Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office team.

The settlement came several months after U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Gaughan ruled that sheriff's Sgt. Michael Sparks was not entitled to shoot a person who did not pose an immediate threat.

The initial release in 2008 from the sheriff's office stated that the SWAT officer shot Ward because he charged through the doorway when officers breached it. Ward was being sought on a high-risk warrant for selling large quantities of marijuana and possessing several guns.

Ward reportedly was carrying "something" and lunged at officers after being told to stop. The shot from Sparks' high-powered M4 rifle struck Ward in the lower jaw.

Ward's attorney, Terry H. Gilbert, said the report embellished the level of threat Ward presented and what actually happened during the raid.

Gilbert said the six-man SWAT team was supposed to knock on the door and announce its presence. He said the team knew Ward lived with a girlfriend and two children, and the team's plan was to throw a distraction device inside and have the four remaining officers secure the home on Dearborn Avenue near West 73rd Street.

"The whole operation went really bad," Gilbert said. "Ward was inside watching television in his underwear and heard commotion outside so he opened the door.

"Ward never went outside -- that is an undisputed fact -- and he posed no threat, but Sparks shot him in the face. No other SWAT team member knew Sparks fired a shot. It was an unnecessary use of a SWAT team to begin with, and the shooting was unwarranted and excessive."

In her ruling on June 29, Gaughan said she found "a genuine issue with respect to Ward's excessive force claims, and that he had clearly established a right not to be subjected to deadly force unless he exposed an immediate threat to Sparks or to the SWAT team members ... A reasonable officer would understand he is not entitled to shoot a person who does not pose an immediate threat."

Gaughan urged attorneys on both sides to resolve the matter, something the county did Wednesday afternoon, according to David C. Lambert, chief of the Civil Division of the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office.

"We've agreed to settle the matter," Lambert said. "It was in the best interest of everybody to settle this case and put it behind us. We have not admitted to any wrongdoing. These officers put their lives at risk and make many split-second, life-and-death decisions."

Gilbert said Ward, who attended Ohio State University and was laid off from a mortgage broker company, suffered serious injury to his jaw and the area below his nose. Facial reconstruction was required, but he is disfigured for life.

"He will need every cent of his settlement to get through his life," Gilbert said.