DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Des Moines has agreed to spend $75,000 to settle a lawsuit filed after an officer sprayed pepper spray at a 17-year-old girl and threw her to the ground at a downtown bus station.
The City Council approved the settlement last week after it was accepted by attorneys representing Kimberly Williams and her children, according to federal court records.
Williams filed the lawsuit after a February 2018 incident at the downtown DART station, where Sgt. Greg Wessels and Williams’ teenager daughter began arguing after police tried to deal with a crowd of teenagers, according to the Des Moines Register.
Officers told the teens to leave but Williams’ daughter said she needed to catch her bus to go home.
The situation escalated and Wessels ultimately sprayed the teen with pepper spray and took her to the ground. She was held at a juvenile detention center overnight.
Des Moines police didn’t immediately say if disciplinary action was taken against Wessels.
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