Jury awards $50 million to man beaten, locked in East Cleveland police department storage room

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cuyahoga County jury on Friday awarded $50 million to an East Cleveland man who filed a lawsuit that said police in that city beat him while he was in handcuffs in 2012, then locked him in a concrete storage room for four days with no food or restroom.

The award came after the second jury trial in the case of Arnold Black, after an appeals court last year overturned a previous award for $22 million.

The jury’s award -- $20 million in compensatory damages and $30 million in punitive damages against the city of East Cleveland -- could be one of the largest awarded in a civil rights case in the state of Ohio, Justin Hawal, one of Black’s attorneys, said.

Black was “elated” with the verdict, Hawal said.

Read more: https://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/2019/08/jury-awards-50-million-to-man-beaten-locked-in-east-cleveland-police-department-storage-room.html

Tip to East Ckeveland: Don't appeal again.