Dallas to Pay Rodarick Lyles $500,000 Settlement: Police Caught on Video Beating Defenseless Black Man

From [HERE] The city of Dallas will pay Rodarick Lyles $500,000 for injuries he received during a 2011 traffic stop.  The arrest was caught on dash camera video in which Officer Quaitemes Williams is seen kicking and pepper-spraying Lyles, who'd been pulled over by another officer for driving with a suspended license. It shows Officer Williams punching a handcuffed Lyles with his fist and using a flashlight to beat the unarmed man. Williams kicked Lyles in the head and sprayed pepper spray into his face. Police used racial slurs during the assault. The entire video is posted on the Dallas Police Facebook page. 19 minutes and 38 seconds of the traffic stop. Officer Hiram Soler, who'd initially stopped Lyles, was suspended for 10 days for entering inaccurate, false or improper information on a police report.

His attorney says the damage that’s been done is both physical and emotional.  “Long after the bruises, and the rotator cuff, and the knee arthroscopy have healed, you’re still going to remember the guy that stood over you with a badge and made you feel less than human,” says attorney Geoff Henley.

The officer was fired and charged. “They kept him on the ground for I don't know how many minutes. They talked bad to him. They did him like a dog. So I want to know, how would you feel if they done your son like that,” says Ella Flowers, Lyles’ mother." And, if you look at the pictures, you can look on the side," Flowers said "Both footprints of where he was kicking my son, his footprint is in my son's head. Why? Why did you have to beat him like that? And, I honestly believe he tried to murder my son with intent."

“The response can't be when a person is defenseless and in handcuffs to kick a person in the head or to mace a person, we have to be more professional and disciplined than that,” says Police Chief David Brown.

Wednesday, the council approved nearly $1 million in settlements.  It’s the second and third case, just in the past month, with claims of Dallas police officers losing control.

The other settlement on the agenda is with Lavell Fairbanks.  His attorney says officers beat him so badly with a flashlight in 2010, that Fairbanks now has a traumatic brain injury.

Dallas already paid out $500,000 last month to Andrew Collins.  He was repeatedly hit by DPD officers during a traffic stop.