Westover insurer to pay settlements totaling $1.1 million in police misconduct cases [The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.]

Apr. 5—WESTOVER — Two separate lawsuits alleging violent misconduct by Westover Police officers have been settled by the city's liability insurer for a total of $1.1 million.

City Attorney Tim Stranko explained Monday that lawsuits filed by William Cox and Andre Howton have concluded. Both cases were settled through mediation—Cox for $750, 000 ; Howton for $350, 000.

"In both the Howton and Cox cases there was no admission of liability by either the city or the police officers, " Stranko said, explaining the city had no input and was not consulted regarding the settlements per its agreement with its liability insurer, the West Virginia Board of Risk and Insurance.

The city carries a policy of up to $1 million per occurrence.

"What happens when you make this insurance policy with BRIM, as with any carrier, is if they accept the liability up to that million-dollar limit, then they also take control of the litigation in the sense that they negotiate and decide if and when a settlement is indicated, how much to pay, " Stranko said. "We give all that prerogative away in the insurance contract."

Cox filed suit in January 2021, alleging he was kicked, punched, pepper-sprayed and falsely arrested by Westover officers Aaron Dalton and Justice Carver for recording them with his cell phone as they drove by in a marked cruiser in August 2019.

The incident was captured by a camera located at a nearby business.

The suit also claimed the phone with which Cox recorded the entire interaction was either destroyed or otherwise disposed of by the officers. Two years later, the phone was found by Carver in the department's evidence room.

Howton's lawsuit was the result of an altercation on New Year's Day 2019, during which officers Dalton and Zachary Fecsko pulled Howton from his home and beat him, based on evidence recorded by Dalton's body-worn camera.

Howton, a Black man in his 50s, sustained a number of facial injuries, including multiple fractures and at least three broken teeth.

Dalton, who spent more than a year on paid administrative leave following the incidents, has since been terminated by the city.

"The money paid out in the settlement of these cases does not come out of our general fund. The impact we will see, obviously, is our renewal rates as the policy goes forward, " Stranko said, explaining the city paid approximately $165, 000 for its general liability policy, though that number has fluctuated in recent years.

"The underwriters, of course they're going to see these payouts and look at our renewal rates. The good thing about BRIM is this is a state agency and they are obliged by legislature to support municipal operations."

A third lawsuit, this one a property dispute filed by Richard Panico Sr. against the city, Mayor Dave Johnson and Stranko, was dismissed by the Northern District Court of West Virginia.

In other Westover news, the city will hold its annual Spring Cleanup April 18-21.

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