Carbondale, Colo. – The town has agreed to a $28,500 settlement with a man who alleged his civil rights were violated when a police officer repeatedly stunned him with a Taser.
The town reached the settlement with Steven Horn on Feb. 9. Town Attorney Mark Hamilton released the amount Thursday in response to requests from The Aspen Times and The Valley Journal of Carbondale.
Horn was stopped by officer Jose Mu Inoz for running a stop sign Aug. 4, 2004. Horn got out of his vehicle to talk with Mu Inoz.
According to testimony from a municipal court trial in 2005, Mu Inoz stunned Hamilton with the Taser after an exchange of words.
Mu Inoz has alleged Horn was shouting and waving his arms in a threatening manner and refusing instructions to get back in his vehicle.
A jury acquitted Horn of resisting arrest and failing to obey the order of a police officer but convicted him of running a stop sign.
In May, Horn filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Denver alleging he suffered serious injuries from the Taser. The lawsuit alleged Mu Inoz violated Horn’s constitutional rights as guaranteed in the Fourth, Eighth and 14th amendments, which deal with unlawful search and seizure, cruel and unusual punishment, and the right to due process and equal protection under the law.
Formal dismissal papers for the lawsuit were due Feb. 28.
Mu Inoz remains on active duty.
Horn could not be reached for comment. A phone message for Horn’s attorney, Richard Dally, was not immediately returned Friday.
