Officer Bobby G. Schoolcraft's decision to shoot James Barber in 2013 led to a $237,000 lawsuit settlement unanimously approved by Columbus City Council members Monday night. It is one of the largest use-of-force settlements the city has paid in a decade.

James Barber was grabbing the forks and other sharp objects away from a friend threatening to kill himself inside a messy motel room when two Columbus police officers appeared at the motel door.

Officers Kelly Yeager and Bobby G. Schoolcraft were called to the America�s Best Value Inn near Hilliard on a cold November night in 2013 on the report of a stabbing.

�Freeze!� Barber remembered the officers shouting. They ordered Barber to turn around. Barber�s distraught friend, a co-worker at a roofing company, was in the room. There was blood and signs someone had been drinking, police said.

As Barber turned around, Schoolcraft noticed a shiny silver object in his hands. Schoolcraft thought it was a knife and fired his .40-caliber weapon.

Barber went down with a bullet in his right shoulder.

Schoolcraft�s decision to shoot led to a $237,000 lawsuit settlement unanimously approved by Columbus City Council members Monday night. It is one of the largest use-of-force settlements the city has paid in a decade.

The bullet left Barber temporarily, but severely, disabled. He was out of work for a year. Medical bills were well beyond his annual salary.

Cops said that Barber was likely intoxicated that night. It later was determined that he wasn�t. The officers said he came toward Yeager. Barber said he didn�t. And the silver objects in his hands � the forks he�d confiscated.

�It turns out Barber was just a helper, trying to help his friend,� said City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer Jr., who recommended to the City Council that the settlement be approved.

Barber and his attorneys said in court records that Schoolcraft shot him for no reason. They contend he was not charging officers and was trying to comply wih orders.

And he didn�t have a knife.

�There�s a difference of what the facts are here,� said Tim Mangan, the city�s chief litigator in Pfeiffer�s office.

During an internal investigation, Schoolcraft made statements that differed from Yeager�s, according to court records. Yeager told investigators that lethal force was �not necessary.�

Mangan disputes that as well and said Yeager made no such statements.

Schoolcraft does have credibility issues.

In February, Schoolcraft pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of soliciting a prostitute in an unconnected case.

Schoolcraft was fined $250 plus court costs and ordered to enroll in �john school,� a program that is offered to certain defendants, mostly first-time offenders with no record of violence, who are arrested on prostitution charges.

He remains employed by the Police Division.

lsullivan@dispatch.com

@DispatchSully