NEW YORK — Thabo Sefolosha of the Atlanta Hawks surely suffered when police officers broke his leg arresting him outside a Manhattan nightclub in 2015. He needed surgery and sat out while teammates went deep in the NBA playoffs.
But the city’s decision to settle his wrongful arrest lawsuit Wednesday for $4 million still raised eyebrows. That’s more than the city has paid out in some of its most notorious police brutality cases.
Several unarmed men shot to death by New York City police received less money.
Legal experts say the large settlement is a reflection of lost earnings potential as a professional athlete, not any judgment that his leg was worth more than a man’s life.