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Syracuse’s Common Council approved $400,000 in police brutality settlements against one Syracuse Police Department officer at a meeting Monday.

The lawyers of Maurice Crawley and Jabari Boykins claim that Officer Vallon Smith violated the two’s constitutional rights when arresting them in 2016 and 2017, respectively. The city reached a $200,000 settlement with both Crawley and Boykins, though the lawyer for the city denies the allegations of brutality, according to Syracuse.com. 

The city will issue and sell $200,000 worth of bonds to pay its settlement with Crawley and Boykins.

Crawley claims Smith punched him in the head when the officer arrested him in 2016. Smith arrested Crawley, whom he charged with resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration, after Crawley filmed and made comments while the officer arrested another person. 

Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick later said Smith overreacted, and he dropped the charges against Crawley.

Boykins sued the city for injuries he sustained after Smith arrested him at Nottingham High School in 2017, when Boykins was a freshman. Smith, who was a school resource officer at the time, allegedly broke Boykins arm while tackling him. 

The arrest was caught on camera. The city’s Citizen Review Board, which oversees public complaints against police officers, found that Smith used excessive force and that information in his police report conflicted with video evidence and with Smith’s description of the incident. 

The superintendent of Nottingham High School removed Smith from the school. Fitzpatrick did not find evidence of wrongdoing in Boykins’ arrest. 

The lawyers who brought the suits on behalf of Crawley and Boykins have said they are planning to file a third lawsuit against the city related to a 2019 arrest Smith conducted. 

Other business:

The council also voted to explore the consolidation of Syracuse’s Water Authority with Onondaga County’s Water Authority. This change was first proposed in 2019 by The New York State Financial Restructuring Board of Local Governments.

Both the county and city will conduct studies to determine the feasibility of the project and will determine if they will go through with it.

The council also voted to enter into a $12,000 agreement with the Central New York Humane Society to fund a program that will provide resources related to suspected animal cruelty cases reported in the city until the end of June 2021.

Published on November 23, 2020 at 11:42 pm

Contact David: Dmstebbi@syr.edu