[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26055-2003May22.html[/url]

By TERRY KINNEY
The Associated Press
Thursday, May 22, 2003; 12:30 PM


CINCINNATI - City officials approved a $4.5 million settlement of lawsuits accusing police of using excessive force during 2001 race riots, a move the mayor hailed as a chance to "put some things behind us."

"This is an opportunity to advance our city," Mayor Charlie Luken told City Council members, who approved the settlement Wednesday. "It doesn't solve all our problems ... but this is a good thing."

U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott approved the settlement following the council's vote.

The city's worst racial unrest in decades erupted in April 2001 after a white police officer shot and killed Timothy Thomas, 19, a black man who was fleeing police on misdemeanor charges. Rioters were angry over the deaths of Thomas and 14 other black men in police encounters over six years. Officer Stephen Roach was later acquitted in Thomas' shooting.

Black activists who began an economic boycott of Cincinnati after the three days of rioting had said the lawsuits should be settled before they would discuss terms for ending the boycott.

Thomas' mother, Angela Leisure, filed one of 16 lawsuits that were involved in the settlement.

"Me and my family can finally have some closure," Leisure said. "It has never stopped hurting."

Alphonse Gerhardstein, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union who helped file a March 2001 lawsuit accusing police of harassing blacks, called the settlement "a big move forward." Gerhardstein's lawsuit was settled last year when the city, the ACLU and black activists resolved to work together to reduce crime.

In the latest settlement, neither the city nor the officers admitted any wrongdoing. The pact also resolves a lawsuit filed by the family of Michael Carpenter, a black man shot by police during a 1999 traffic stop.

Carpenter's mother, Elsie Carpenter, said she hopes the settlement makes Cincinnati a safer and more tolerant community.

© 2003 The Associated Press