Village approves $65,000 payout in brutality case

By TOM RUE

MONTICELLO - Voting without comment, members of the Monticello village board of trustees on August 4 unanimously approved to pay James "Bug" Tomlinson $65,000 for injuries sustained in a July 17, 1995 fight with Monticello police officer Gerard Dietz and other officers in the police station lobby.

The lawsuit initially sought $550,000. The village's insurance policy carries a $10,000 deductible, officials said. Scottsdale Insurance Co. of Arizona reportedly agreed to the settlement in May.

Tomlinson, then 31, of Monticello, was hospitalized with broken bones and contusions after he reportedly replied with verbal insults to a police officer who allegedly called him a derogatory name when he appeared at the station to retrieve his daughter's stolen bicycle.

After investigations by federal, state, and county authorities, Dietz and two other officers were suspended without pay for six weeks for the incident. Tomlinson was subsequently arrested in Monticello on unrelated charges.

Since then, Dietz was promoted to the rank of detective. At the time, chief Michael Brennan heralded Dietz for having "done a one-eighty" and "paid his debt."

Brennan would not comment on the settlement. Dietz has been named in a seemingly disproportionate number of other abuse allegations, some of which have been cleared. Since the Tomlinson incident, which some officials dismissed as stemming from a "personality conflict" but others saw as racially influenced, all Monticello employees were given a day of cultural diversity training. Tomlinson is black and the officers who beat him were all white. The department has since hired several minority officers.

Tomlinson's attorney, B. Harold Ramsey of Poughkeepsie, could not be reached at press-time. Alinda Tomlinson, the plaintiff's mother, said she was unaware of the board's vote and declined to comment. James Tomlinson did not return a phone call.

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