City may settle suit with officer

A possible settlement is on the table for the second of two federal lawsuits brought by Pittsburgh police officers who claim they were demoted after testifying for a controversial officer accused of homicide.

The settlement finally could end the legal fallout stemming from the Jeffrey Cooperstein murder trial, but not before racking up hefty legal costs for the cash-strapped city.

Cooperstein was a patrolman who many suspected of operating a Web site called the Blue Knight, which posted scathing criticism of city police officials. In 1998, Cooperstein, who is white, shot Deron S. Grimmitt Sr., who was black, during a car chase and later claimed he shot in self-defense when Grimmitt tried to run over him. Cooperstein was fired in 1999.

The city already has spent more than $500,000 in civil judgments and back pay related to Cooperstein's case. That doesn't count the pending legal fees of Officer Robert C. Swartzwelder and Lt. Andrew Lisiecki. The officers testified for Cooperstein at his February 2000 murder trial and later sued police Chief Robert W. McNeilly Jr. and other Pittsburgh police officials, saying the department retaliated by demoting them.

A jury acquitted Cooperstein in 2000. A year later the city agreed to pay $175,000 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed in federal court by Grimmitt's mother, Bettye J. Grimmitt.

In May 2000, the city agreed to pay Cooperstein $211,000 in back pay and disability to settle a lawsuit he filed claiming the city failed to accommodate his multiple sclerosis. The city also pays him an annual $21,000 pension.

The city lost the Swartzwelder case, with a federal jury awarding him $113,000. Federal statutes allow prevailing civil rights attorneys to be paid fees and costs. So a federal judge could order the city to pay Swartzwelder's legal fees.

Swartzwelder's lawyer, Adrian Roe, would not say when he intends to submit the bill or for how much, only that the tab would be "substantial" and many times more than what his client would have settled for two years ago.

Lisiecki's trial was scheduled to begin today. City officials aren't saying whether the verdict in the Swartzwelder case is prompting them to settle with Lisiecki. The parties have reached "an agreement in principle," said Jay Reisinger, Lisiecki's Downtown attorney.

Federal lawsuits filed by Swartzwelder and Lisiecki each charged that McNeilly violated their First Amendment rights by requiring officers to get his permission before testifying.

In 1999, McNeilly demoted Swartzwelder, a former instructor at the Pittsburgh Police Academy, to patrolman and transferred him to the Hill District station after Swartzwelder sided with Cooperstein.

Lisiecki also testified at Cooperstein's trial and says he was later demoted from team leader in the Special Weapons and Tactics unit to patrolman in Zone 1.

U.S. Magistrate Robert C. Mitchell issued a preliminary injunction against McNeilly's order, which Chief Judge Donetta Ambrose and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld.

City Solicitor Jacqueline Morrow said she had been confident the city would win the Swartzwelder case even after the two federal judges ruled against her on a key First Amendment issue and suggested the city settle the lawsuit.

"We thought we were right. If you're questioning our judgment, go right ahead," she said, adding that the final say on whether to accept a settlement rests with her.

"We're not a defense insurance firm. We don't just settle if we believe there are principles involving how you manage a police department," Morrow said.

City Councilman Bob O'Connor said the city has made a string of poor decisions in not settling lawsuits in recent years, costing city taxpayers millions. The city faces an estimated $60 million budget shortfall next year.

"You have to look at the history of that, of the city not knowing when to make a deal," O'Connor said. "It's very frustrating and leads back to good management. You can only hide things so long."

Morrow said the city's own defense costs in the Cooperstein cases were $23,585. She said the city did not hire outside experts or counsel.