BALTIMORE — Wednesday, Baltimore City's Board of Estimates spent $495,000 to settle four separate lawsuits filed against seven different police officers.
Three cases date to 2016, with one happening in 2018.
The first involves a lawsuit brought by Jamal Wilson against officer Donald Gaff, alleging excessive force and civil rights violations.
It stems from an incident on September 11, 2016 in the 600 block of E. Patapsco Street.
At the time, Wilson was a passenger in a vehicle that was double parked and blocking traffic.
Gaff ordered the driver and Wilson to move the car and provide ID, but both refused.
That's when things turned physical.
The city's deputy solicitor says Wilson was taken to the hospital with a broken jaw.
Wilson was initially charged with resisting arrest, however those charges were later dropped.
Gaff was convicted of assault and misconduct in office, though the assault conviction was later overturned.
He was also fired, though that is pending a court review.
RELATED: BPD officer convicted of assault after striking man in face during traffic stop
The Board paid Williams $130,000 to settle.
In another case, officer Duane Dixon hit Ian Mansfield with his patrol car as he crossing West 30th Street.
Dixon made an illegal left turn, and was suspended five days without pay for the crash.
The city paid $275,000 for the man's injuries and future medical costs.
In the third case, Leonard Ferguson and Eric Baylor sued the police department and officer Timothy George.
The two men allege George caused them to get into a crash on September 18, 2016, at the intersection of Belair Road and Parkside Drive.
Thus far only Baylor has agreed to settle for the amount of $30,000, while Ferguson has refused despite an existing court order to do so.
The final lawsuit involves Derrick Anderson, who sued former Gun Trace Task Force officers Evodio Hendrix, Wayne Jenkins, Marcus Taylor, and Maurice Ward, accusing them of false arrest and imprisonment.
Anderson, a previously convicted felon, was arrested May 3, 2016 after the foursome stopped him and recovered a handgun while investigating reports of discharging in the area.
After pleading guilty and spending 14 months behind bars, all charges against Anderson were dismissed in 2017 when all four officers who arrested him were federally indicted and convicted in a corruption scandal.
MORE: An In Focus look into the 500+ page Gun Trace Task Force investigative report
The City settled his lawsuit for $60,000.
It's the latest of several lawsuits the city has faced in recent years over the task force.
In the past the department has tried to avoid paying such settlements, arguing that the officers involved acted outside the scope of their employment when they committed the crimes. But courts have since rebuffed that argument.
The deputy solicitor said there are three other GTTF-related lawsuits in the court system at this point.
