Melvin Jones, III, City of Springfield, reach $575,000 settlement

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - The City of Springfield has reached a more than $500,000 settlement with a man who was hit repeatedly with a flashlight by a Springfield police officer.

The $575,000 settlement between the City and Melvin Jones III was announced on Wednesday.

Attorney John Liebel, who represented the City, told 22News that the settlement came as a result of two days of mediation before Magistrate Judge Kenneth P. Nyman in federal court.

Liebel says that the plaintiff had originally asked for more money than the result of the settlement, and the City had initially offered less than the settlement amount.

The settlement will be broken into two components; with part going to pay for the costs to litigate the case, and to satisfy a medical care lien. The rest will go to a structured settlement for Jones, who will receive steady payments over 30 years’ time, with some larger, lump sum payments in between.

The case had been scheduled to go to trial in October. Liebel says that if the high-profile case had gone to trial and the plaintiff had won, the City could have been forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees alone.

Former Springfield Police Officer Jeffrey Asher was convicted of assault in connection with the November 2009 beating on Rifle Street. Jones was hospitalized after being struck repeatedly in the face with Asher’s flashlight.

The ex-officer is currently serving an 18-month jail sentence, and has lost his pension.

The Jones case raised anger across western Massachusetts, especially among leaders of Springfield’s African-American community, who called for more action against police brutality.