Teen, Lawyers Discuss Tulsa Police Beating Lawsuit

By Emory Bryan, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- The City of Tulsa is paying $150,000 to an 18-year-old who claimed he was beaten up by police for no reason. The payout settles a civil rights lawsuit against three police officers - which was about to go to trial.

The total cost to the city is over $280,000 - all because of an encounter with police that turned into a scuffle, but didn't turn up any crime.

"There was no even arguable provocation for what they did to this young man," said Stephen Capron, attorney for plaintiff Treveon Evans.

Read The Lawsuit

Attorney Stephen Capron says the police were wrong to even question his client - much less get into an altercation that left Treveon Evans with slight but permanent vision problems.

"They had no reason to ask him questions in the first place, but after he voluntarily answered their questions, to harm him in any way," Capron said.

Thursday the city council finalized the settlement - that comes after two years of investigation, and preparation for a trial. The attorney the city hired to handle the case figures it could have been much worse.

Read The City Of Tulsa's Response To Lawsuit

"The amount we settled for was extremely reasonable under the circumstances," said Joel Wohlgemuth, attorney for the City of Tulsa.

Wohlgemuth says the city settled rather than risk losing the case at trial.

"Even a modest verdict could have led to a very substantial liability on the part of the city," Wohlgemuth said.

Evans and his mother Kisha jointly sued the city after their complaints to the police department were rejected. Treveon was 16 when the incident happened - now he's 18, about to graduate from high school, and plans to attend college.

Read the Tulsa city council authorization request.

He says he's lost some of the trust he had in police.

"I still want to trust the police officers in our city and I have, but it's scary going up to them because, especially if you don't know who they are before you talk to them," Treveon said.

In the settlement, the city does not admit doing anything wrong, and will not lead to any punishment for the officers involved.

4/19/2010 Related Story: City Of Tulsa Settles Tulsa Police Department Beating Lawsuit