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Three Occupy Protesters Get $142K To Settle Lawsuit Against The City


January 6, 2015 | Rhett Jones

Occupy Wall Street cases are still being settled in courtrooms, more than three years after the protest movement became an international obsession. Three clients of attorney Jeffrey Rothman settled their cases against NYC on Monday and they received a combined total of $142,500.

The Daily News reports:

The biggest chunk goes to Sandra Fields, 68, of Manhattan, who will get $75,000 for getting roughed up, said attorney Jeffrey Rothman on Monday. Fields held one end of a banner that read “Occupy” and Sean McKeown, 33, held the other on Sept. 25, 2012, as they marched down Broadway when Lt. Stephen Latalardo attacked her, according to their suit.

In the assault, the aftermath of which was captured on camera, Fields said she was slammed from behind by the strapping cop and her head hit the ground.

Lt. Daniel Albano can be seen in the footage rubbing his forehead after the smirking Latalardo told him Fields was arrested for displaying a banner.

McKeown will receive $15,000 and a third client, Eric-John Russell of Brooklyn, is getting $52,500. Russell, 32, claimed that he was forced off the sidewalk by police and subsequently arrested for blocking traffic. He successfully argued his case in court and was even able to provide photo evidence of officers grabbing him. “They got caught flat dead in a lie,” Russell told the Daily News.

Rothman characterized his clients’ cases as “indicative of the barbarity, the dishonesty and the stupidity with which the NYPD police the Occupy protests.”

(Photo: Aymann Ismail/ANIMALNewYork)