Yonkers mulls $10G settlement of police brutality suit

YONKERS – City officials are mulling a $10,000 settlement with a Yonkers ex-convict who filed a police brutality lawsuit against the city.

The City Council is set to consider the proposed settlement at its meeting Tuesday, which if approved would authorize the city comptroller to draw up a check for Robert Ellison, 35, of Yonkers. Ellison accused Yonkers police of assault and brutality when they arrested him Nov. 27, 2007, and charged him with misdemeanor assault, harassment and resisting arrest.

City officials said police were called to Ellison's home after a report of a domestic dispute, although the complaint against him was later dropped. At the time, Ellison was on parole after a criminal weapons possession conviction in 2002 for which he served three years in prison.

Ellison's civil suit, which is set to go to trial later this year unless settled, is seeking $2 million in damages. Although the physical injuries he suffered were mainly cuts, Ellison's father, Robert Sr., said his family won't want to settle for only $10,000.

"It's a kick in the face after what they did," the elder Ellison said.

City officials declined to comment on the case, saying the proposed settlement still needs to be reviewed and acted on by the council.

Since his confrontation with police, Ellison was arrested again in 2010 for second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a felony, for which he served a year and a half in prison. Since being released in 2012, he has been working as a roofer, the elder Ellison said.