Five Occupy Wall Street protesters who were cordoned off and pepper sprayed by a New York Police Department commander during the early stages of the movement have settled their civil rights cases this week. Video of the 2011 incident at Zuccotti Park (above) in lower Manhattan went viral, and it helped spark nationwide interest in the Occupy protests.

The officer shown in the video was Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna. He was not prosecuted and instead was transferred to Staten Island, ultimately losing 10 vacation days.

In all, New York City agreed Monday to pay $332,500 to six protestors, five of which were involved in the videotaped melee and another who got pepper sprayed in a different incident.

"When you have neutral video that’s exposing an unconstitutional practice, I think it really goes a long way in getting people’s attention, including getting the city’s attention and making them come to the table to discontinue this sort of practice," said Aymen Aboushi, an attorney defending two of the protesters.

Nick Paolucci, a city spokesman, said, "Settling these cases was in the city's best interest."

In total, New York City has now paid about $1.2 million to settle Occupy-related lawsuits.