WESTBROOK — The City Council voted unanimously Monday to pay $10,000 of an undisclosed sum to settle a lawsuit with a Lewiston man who accused police of pulling him over based on his race last year.
The $10,000 was the city’s insurance deductible. The legal agreement between Oden and the city includes non-disclosure agreements around the circumstances or details on the settlement or case.
Vincent Oden filed a civil suit in Androscoggin County Superior Court in February of 2020.
The settlement officially dismisses the civil case, according to the legal agreement.
No comment on the settlement was made at the council meeting.
“An issue was raised, it was dealt with through a settlement rather than a trial setting, and I think the issues were adequately addressed,” City Administrator Jerre Bryant told the American Journal.
“There was no finding of any fault or inappropriate behavior from the city officers. The resolution is acceptable to both parties,” Bryant said.
Oden did not respond to American Journal messages seeking his comment.
“The issues raised were better addressed through discussion rather than litigation. The resolution is acceptable to all parties,” Mayor Mike Foley said.
Oden said in his lawsuit that in 2018 he drove into an area in Westbrook where firetrucks were responding to a snapped utility pole, according to a report in the Sun Journal. Firefighters waved him through, but he was stopped by a Westbrook police officer who hadn’t stopped similar vehicles with white drivers passing through the same area, according to the lawsuit.
He was given a field sobriety test, which he passed, the lawsuit said, but he was arrested for possession of medicine that was prescribed to him. He was jailed, and bail conditions prevented him from working.
The charges against Oden were dropped.
This story has been corrected to clarify that the $10,000 paid by the city was its insurance deductible and not the full amount of the settlement.
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