The Milwaukee city attorney would be authorized to offer $400,000 to Milwaukee Bucks guard Sterling Brown to settle a lawsuit the player filed after being stunned by a Taser by Milwaukee police over a parking violation, under a proposed resolution.

The filing caught Brown's attorney, Mark Thomsen, off guard.

Thomsen said he had been taking depositions for the last two weeks. That included Friday morning, when he said he was deposing Sgt. Jeffrey Krueger, who Thomsen said admitted under oath that he failed to protect Brown's safety.

"Today, when I came out of Sgt. Krueger's deposition and my phone lit up because people were asking me about this letter by the city attorney, I thought it was only fair for me to respond on behalf of Mr. Brown," he said at a news conference Friday afternoon.

He said he had not had a chance to talk with Brown about the letter from City Attorney Grant Langley and Deputy City Attorney Jan Smokowicz to the Common Council. The letter was attached to a proposed resolution that stated the sum would pay for "all damages, attorneys' fees and costs."

"I have read the letter, and the letter is dated May 29," Thomsen said. "I was told by Grant Langley this morning that he was thinking about submitting a letter, and he had mentioned nothing about any amount or any discussions."

There is not a settlement, Thomsen added. He said he has not seen an offer of judgment and therefore doesn't know what the terms of any city proposal might be.

He also said he hasn't discussed a figure with Brown.

"We have said from day one, unless there is an absolute admission that Mr. Brown's civil rights were violated, there isn't any point in talking about anything," he said. "Because this first of all was to establish that Milwaukee police officers cannot approach young African-American men in this city, push them, tell them they own it, they own this."

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In the letter, Langley and Smokowicz wrote that efforts to reach a settlement in the case have so far not been successful.

Brown filed a lawsuit last year seeking damages for the conduct of Milwaukee police officers during the Jan. 26, 2018, incident. His federal civil rights lawsuit claims wrongful arrest and excessive force.

Video from police body cameras showed officers being confrontational from the beginning of the interaction with Brown.

The interaction began about 2 a.m. when an officer doing a business check at the Walgreens near West National Avenue and South 26th Street stopped to question Brown about his car, which was parked across two handicap spots.

The situation got tenser as additional officers arrived after the initial officer called for assistance.

The video shows Brown being thrown to the ground and stunned with a Taser by officers.

The resolution has been assigned to the Common Council's Judiciary and Legislation Committee, which meets June 10.

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The City Attorney's Office is asking the Common Council to authorize the offer of judgment.

"While the only relief available to Mr. Brown in such litigation is monetary damages, Mr. Brown and his counsel have expressed concern that the city and its police department engage in efforts to reform and improve relations between the department and local communities," the attorneys wrote.

They wrote that in their understanding the police department and city have made "significant efforts" to improve the department and community relations since the incident.

Those include:

Additional police department training on fair and impartial policing and on supervisory skills.

Police department supervisory review of officer body camera footage.

Attempts to reestablish the Police Athletic League.

The city creating MENTOR Greater Milwaukee in collaboration with the Milwaukee Bucks and Milwaukee Public Schools.

Thomsen said he and Langley have discussed not only how to address the lawsuit but also what department policies need to change. And he expressed hope that the changes the department has made will have positive outcomes.

Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales and Mayor Tom Barrett apologized for the officers' actions. One officer, Erik Andrade, was fired over his social media posts following the incident with Brown.

Brown was never charged or cited.

"We have said from day one that we have to change what happens in this city," Thomsen said. "And when we all watch on TV and we can see a young person's constitutional rights violated — a young African American who happens to be on a date, who then is taken down and tased in front of his date, just subjugated — until we say we're not going to let this happen to young African Americans in this city, this lawsuit is going to proceed."

Contact Alison Dirr at 414-224-2383 or adirr@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter @AlisonDirr.