The city of Pittsburgh will pay a Carrick family $107,500 to settle a civil rights lawsuit tied to a December 2010 SWAT team raid, an attorney for the family said Wednesday.

“It's a good resolution of the case and I think it reflects the parties' understanding that when police use paramilitary force it has to be done correctly and in appropriate circumstances,” said attorney Tim O'Brien.

Georgeia Moreno and her mother and stepfather, Darlene and Mark Staymates, claimed in the lawsuit that police used excessive force to enter their home and arrest her husband, William Moreno, and violated other family members' civil rights by interrogating them in handcuffs for about 45 minutes after the arrest.

Police had no reason to believe that anyone else in the house was involved in criminal activity and the warrant for the search and arrest of William Moreno didn't justify the post-arrest interrogations, O'Brien said.

City Solicitor Lourdes Sanchez Ridge couldn't be reached for comment.

Moreno was in a bar fight with an off-duty police officer at a local veterans club a few hours before the raid, according to the lawsuit.

The city contended that the off-duty officer was informally helping the bar staff move patrons out at closing time when Moreno and several other men attacked him.

U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer on Wednesday approved a motion setting aside $35,000 of the settlement for two minor children who were present in the home during the raid.

O'Brien said the settlement includes about $50,000 in attorney fees and legal costs. The rest of the money goes to the adults who were present during the raid.

Brian Bowling is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-325-4301 or bbowling@tribweb.com.

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