The lawsuit contended that the allegations were “trumped up” to hide excessive uses of force that day in June 2015.

The trial began Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Muskogee, and the jury ultimately awarded $3 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages.

“While Mr. Osterhout was lying on the ground with his hands still overhead, Officer Morgan handcuffed him and then kneed him several times in the ribs,” according to an appeal court’s summary of the encounter in a legal decision rendered before the trial. “At no point during this encounter did Mr. Osterhout resist Officer Morgan or attempt to flee.

“Mr. Osterhout further testified in his deposition that as Officer Morgan kneed him in the ribs he said, ‘Take that, you hippy motherf-----. That’s what you get for coming to my town, you hippy motherf------.’”

The ordeal reportedly began as a misunderstanding and a brief pursuit.

Osterhout testified that he had stopped on a road to light a cigarette and motioned for an approaching vehicle to pass him. The car sped up toward him, and an alarmed Osterhout drove off at a high speed, not realizing that the approaching vehicle belonged to the Sheriff’s Office.