Tacoma man who challenged parking ticket receives $45,000 settlement

A Tacoma man who claimed police mistreated him during an unjustified arrest is getting the last word in an argument over a parking ticket.

The City Council unanimously voted last week to settle an officer misconduct claim submitted by Anton Givens for $45,000.

Givens, 32, spent five days in jail and faced felony charges of harassment and obstructing a police officer following his August 2014 arrest in the 2200 block of East Wright Street.

“Five days for literally nothing at all; it was like the craziest thing I ever experienced,” Givens said.

A month after his arrest, a judge in Pierce County Superior Court dismissed the case.

Police in charging papers said Givens taunted and threatened an officer who was writing him a parking ticket. Givens recorded the officer on his cellphone.

The trivial-sounding arrest made the news, including a TV report that noted Givens’ wife told him not to confront the officer. Givens told The News Tribune his wife meant that she had a bad feeling about the officer.

Givens, in the claim he submitted to the city, acknowledged he yelled at the officer because he was upset other people on the street were not getting tickets for similar infractions. He said he did not threaten the officer.

Givens said the officer escalated their encounter, pulling a Taser on him. The officer did not use the Taser, but Givens said the incident led him to have an anxiety attack. He claimed he was denied medical care for the attack, and that he was not read his Miranda rights.

Givens’ original claim in June 2015 sought $500,000.

The City Council “did the right thing and settled it,” said Givens’ attorney, Brett Purtzer.

The settlement is not an admission of liability, City Attorney Elizabeth Pauli said.

This story was originally published April 20, 2016 at 2:38 PM with the headline "Tacoma man who challenged parking ticket receives $45,000 settlement."