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Dallas City Council to vote on whether to approve $500,000 settlement in alleged beating of motorcyclist

The Dallas City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to pay $ 500,000 to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit in the alleged beating by police officers of a motorcyclist who fled from them during a 2010 chase.

The incident involving motorcyclist Andrew Collins was captured on in-car dash-cam video. Criminal charges are pending against former police officers — Paul Bauer, Henry Duetsch and Kevin Randolph – who were fired after the incident.

City Attorney Tom Perkins declined to comment Saturday.

The amount of the proposed settlement reflects the “seriousness of the case,” said Don Tittle, an attorney for Collins.

But Charles Soechting Jr., a defense attorney representing Randolph in the criminal cases, said he believes the city is moving to settle the lawsuit for “political reasons.”

“We maintain his innocence and plan on fighting these charges in district court,” Soechting said of his client.

An attorney representing Duetsch in the civil case declined to comment. An attorney for the third officer could not be reached for comment.

The circumstances that led to the lawsuit and criminal charges arose from a chase on Sept. 5, 2010.

According to police, Bauer and Randolph spotted Collins riding his motorcycle on a South Dallas sidewalk. He fled from them. A police sergeant ordered them not to give chase, but they ignored the order, authorities have said.

The chase ended a short distance later when a patrol car clipped Collins’ motorcycle. An offense report written by Randolph did not indicate that the squad car had hit Collins. Instead, it stated the officers simply found him “wrecked out.”

According to the lawsuit, Collins dropped to the ground and spread his arms and legs and was not resisting when officers tried to take him into custody.

Dash-cam footage showed Randolph striking Collins at least four times with his baton and Bauer hitting him with his fists and knee. The officers accused him of resisting arrest and said they hit him in order to get him under control.

A short time later, Duetsch arrived on scene. Another car’s video showed Duetsch adjusting a camera, allegedly in an effort to conceal a portion of the arrest.

“The worst thing about the whole deal was that there was ultimately eight or 10 officers that all congregated out there and at one point they started watching video in the squad car,” Tittle said.

“Someone (later) left an an anonymous note on a sergeant’s death,” he said. If that hadn’t happened, “it wouldn’t have come out at all…. There should have been more attention paid to the fact that all those officers out there didn’t report it and they were under an obligation to report that kind of thing.”

Bauer, Randolph and Duetsch were fired not long after the incident.

Bauer, 28, is charged with aggravated assault, misdemeanor assault and official oppression. Randolph, 27, faces counts of aggravated assault, official oppression and tampering with a government record. Duetsch, 28, is charged with felony tampering with physical evidence.

Collins, 30, still faces a felony charge of evading arrest in connection with the incident, according to county court records.

Collins has misdemeanor convictions for marijuana possession, unlawfully carrying of a weapon and driving with a suspended license. In 2010, he was placed on probation for felony possession of a controlled substance. The probation was soon revoked.

The council is also scheduled to vote on whether to pay an additional $ 27,500 in legal fees to the attorneys representing the officers in the civil case. The council has already approved $ 75,000 in other legal expenses.

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