Earlier this month we brought you the story [2] of Jared Pusok who San Bernardino Sheriff’s Deputies thought they were going to arrest April 9 on identity theft charges. Pusok had other ideas. After first fleeing by car, Pusok allegedly stole a horse (and we say “allegedly” only in terms of whether the horse was in fact stolen because as you can see from the video below, there is no doubt as to whether there was a horse involved) and led deputies on a two hour, wild west-style high speed horse chase through the desert. In the end, Pusok was removed from the saddle via taser and once on the ground, appeared to suffer a brutal beating by authorities. Here is the scene:
Pusok faced several charges including resisting arrest, attempted robbery, using fighting or offensive words, and animal cruelty (although it doesn’t appear the horse was harmed), but in the end, it looks as though the two-minute police beating took precedence because as AP reports, Pusok came out of the whole ordeal $650,000 richer.
Via AP [3]:
A California county on Tuesday approved paying a $650,000 settlement to avoid a lawsuit by a man whose beating by deputies after a horse chase was captured on video and led to a federal civil rights investigation.
San Bernardino County supervisors approved the settlement with Francis Pusok, 30, in a closed meeting, said David Wert, a county spokesman.
Attorneys Sharon Brunner and Jim Terrell, who represent Pusok, said in a statement that county officials initiated the settlement negotiations. The lawyers noted that it was "remarkable as there was essentially no investigation nor any indictments," and it was based on video...
Pusok fled by car and then on the horse in the desert on April 9 while deputies chased him on foot after trying to serve a search warrant in an identity-theft investigation.
But before you say it was all about the money, note that the Pusok family was more concerned about ending what they call “police harassment” than they were about the nearly three quarters of a million dollars they stood to gain:
Pusok's attorneys say he didn't settle for the money. They say he would have probably made more through litigation, but he wanted to end police harassment and abuse.
Meanwhile, the sheriff's department is pleased that its deputies can now get back to doing the kind of serving and protecting that is on full display in the Pusok video:
"With this situation behind us, we can move forward with protecting our residents and ensuring that local enforcement is responsive, effective and restrained.”
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It looks like this proves yet again that all’s well that ends well after a good old fashioned horse chase.
[4]
