A settlement has been reached in a federal lawsuit brought by a woman who lost her unborn child when former Crestview Police Maj. Joseph Floyd ran into her vehicle with his patrol car.
U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson on Tuesday signed an order dismissing with prejudice the case brought by Amanda Brown and Dwight Lonnie Dobson.
View the settlement agreement. >>
Dobson and Brown will be awarded $75,000 in return for dropping the lawsuit they brought Jan. 11, 2012, against Floyd, Crestview Mayor David Cadle, former Police Chief Brian Mitchell and the city.
The lawsuit accused Floyd of causing a 2008 accident that killed Brown’s unborn child.
The complaint alleged that Floyd was driving a police cruiser after dark without headlights or any type of emergency equipment flashing. It said he intentionally struck the side of Dobson’s Toyota pickup truck while Dobson and Brown were inside.
The lawsuit claimed the “collision was so severe that it caused the car … to flip several times” and, as a result “plaintiffs lost their unborn child.”
The lawsuit also alleges violations of Brown’s and Dobson’s first, fourth and 14th amendment rights.
It accused Cadle and Mitchell of “establishing and maintaining” a “policy and/or practice of using excessive force.”
The police report filed after the accident said Dobson was trying to leave the scene of a drug bust and had been charged afterward with drug possession and obstruction and fleeing.
“The defendant rapidly accelerated, then struck an unmarked Crestview Police Department patrol vehicle in his attempt to flee,” according to Dobson’s arrest report. After the accident occurred and the lawsuit was filed, Floyd was indicted and arrested on a charge of racketeering. He goes to trial in March.
The state attorney’s office has accused him of falsifying police reports and using “unlawful and excessive force” in violation of the law.
The grand jury report released after Floyd’s indictment mentions the collision that caused the death of Brown’s and Dobson’s child as an example of his use of excessive force.
Cadle fired Mitchell soon after Floyd was arrested and terminated.
In a separate report, grand jurors determined that Mitchell had looked the other way while Floyd engaged in criminal behavior. Frederick Gant, the attorney for Brown and Dobson, did not return phone calls seeking comment Wednesday.
W. Bennett Carter and William Peter Martin, the attorneys for the insurance company representing the city, also were unavailable for comment. Vinson’s order requires each side in the dispute to “bear their own fees and costs” and states the agreement can be voided if not consummated within 60 days.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Civil case against former Crestview officer settled (DOCUMENT)