Occupy Wall Street Protester Gets 1 Cent In Damages After Lawsuit

DOWNTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — An Occupy Wall Street protester who sued the city after he was arrested during the 2011 demonstrations was awarded a single cent in damages by a jury on Monday.

The protester Eric Gersbacher accused multiple of NYPD officers of roughly and wrongfully arresting him when he was handcuffed during a 2011 demonstrations in Zucotti Park. Gersbacher was one of thousands of people who joined the widespread protests against income inequality.

Gersbacher was charged with obstruction of governmental administration and resisting arrest. The charges were later dismissed. He first filed suit in 2014, alleging that the police officer Edward Winski and others used excessive force when they arrested him in Zucotti Park.

A jury settled the years-long civil lawsuit on Monday and awarded Gersbacher nominal damages of 0.01 cent, according to court records.

"The jury confusion or jury compromise that resulted in the nominal damage award does not change the result that this NYPD Inspector used excessive force arresting a person involved in expressive speech activity protected by the First Amendment," Gersbacher's lawyer Wylie Stecklow told the New York Post.

"The one penny verdict shows the jury agreed this case had very little merit," Pat Miller, head of the Law Department's Special Federal Litigation Division, said in a statement.

Gersbacher was sitting on a blue tarp during the September 2011 protests when officers ordered him to move, according to his suit. Bystander video from the arrest shows multiple officers forcing Gersbacher to the ground. Gersbacher said in his suit he suffered "severe bruises, scars, and cuts on his forehead" among other injuries.

Image credit: Andrew Burton / Getty Images / Getty Images News. Image caption: Occupy Wall Street protesters protest in Union Square at the end of a march from Zuccotti Park to Union Square on March 24, 2012 in New York City.