Floyd Dent, a Michigan resident who was brutally beaten by a police officer in Inkster during a traffic stop in January, settled his lawsuit for almost $1.4 million on Thursday, The Guardian reports, the same day the officer involved appeared in court to learn whether he would be headed to trial.
According to the report, attorney Nicholas Bennett, who was representing the 57-year-old autoworker, said that his client was happy about the compensation but would give it up if it meant avoiding the entire incident, which left him with four broken ribs and a fractured eye socket. William Melendez, the officer involved, has since been fired.
WXYZ reports that the judge presiding over the case did find enough probable cause to proceed with a trial and added assault by strangulation to Melendez’s charges, since Dent testified that he was choked. According to the news station, Dent claims that since the beating, he can’t think straight and suffers from some memory loss.
Read more at The Guardian and WXYZ.