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County settles lawsuit over police encounter with 5-year-old

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SILVER SPRING, Md. — Officials say Maryland’s Montgomery County has agreed to pay $275,000 to settle a lawsuit that grew from an encounter between a 5-year-old boy and two police officers at East Silver Spring Elementary School.

The Washington Post reports that a recording from a body camera one of the officers was wearing during the 2020 incident showed them berating and insulting the child after he’d fled from his school, and telling him he deserved to be beaten.

Officials say the money will come from the county’s self-insurance fund.

The mother of the child sued the county last year. She asserted among other claims that the officers’ behavior left her son with PTSD.

Court filings show attorneys for the county aggressively challenged the allegations.

According to a seven-page “Release and Settlement of Claim,” signed by all parties and made public Friday, the child’s parents agreed not to bring any more claims against the county and the county assumed no admission of liability over the incident.