MA- Cambridge police settle civil rights lawsuit.

Cambridge, MA — A federal lawsuit filed by a prominent Harvard professor against the Cambridge Police Department alleging civil rights violations during a 2006 arrest has been settled for an undisclosed sum.

“The case has been settled. I am satisfied,” said Professor S. Allen Counter, 61, a renowned neuroscientist and director of the acclaimed Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, during a telephone interview last week. He declined further comment, citing a confidentiality agreement.

A Cambridge police officer took Counter into custody on a charge of domestic violence after his ex-wife alleged that he had pushed their 17-year-old daughter out of his moving car.

Counter, who denied any such incident took place, said police refused to specify the charges when they arrested him and laughed when he asked why. He collapsed at the police station and had to be taken to Cambridge Hospital, where he was handcuffed to a bed and placed under police guard.

The Harvard scholar previously said that Cambridge Police Detective Sgt. William Fulkerson was a friend of his ex-wife’s and had ordered Officer William Macedo to arrest him on a spurious charge.

In his complaint, filed against the officers, City Manager Robert Healy and the Cambridge Police Department, Counter further alleged that Fulkerson had previously harassed him and was engaging in a personal vendetta against him.

Counter, who has no criminal record and no restraining orders, was later acquitted after a brief trial in Cambridge District Court.

“The police use the power of their badge to criminalize African Americans,” said Counter just months before filing the lawsuit. “They seem to delight in branding black professionals as criminals.”

Healy and the Cambridge Police Department did not respond to requests to comment on the settlement.
http://www.baystatebanner.com/local11-2011-10-13