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Baltimore Agrees To Settlement In Rough Ride Case

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore City agrees to pay out nearly $100,000 to a woman who says she was given a rough ride in a Baltimore City police van.

Derek Valcourt has details on the case and the settlement.

A picture of Christine Abbott was taken during her 2012 arrest after police say she began interfering with the arrest of her now-husband. Abbott told CNN she got a rough ride in the back of a police transport van.

"It was really bumpy. They were driving very fast and aggressively. They took really wide, fast turns. I was just sliding around in there," Abbott said.

Wednesday morning, the City Board of Estimates agreed to pay Abbott $95,000 to settle her civil lawsuit in the case---but city officials say that has nothing to do with her alleged rough ride. Instead, they say she was paid out because of what happened when the dress she was wearing ripped.

"My breasts were exposed and they just had me standing there for anyone to see," she said.

City Solicitor George Nilson says officers at the time should have summoned a female officer to help cover her back up.

"Instead, the male officer tried to do it. He didn't do a very good job---not very adept with sundresses, apparently---and that added to the problem considerably and the young lady was mortified by the prolonged exposure to the crowd of 110 people," he said.

But he says fighting that claim in federal court could have been more costly for the city in the long run.

But the city insists Abbott was never injured during her so-called rough ride and says that has nothing to do with why the case was settled. As part of that settlement, Abbott is now prevented from speaking about the case.

The city's solicitor says he's not aware of any other formal complaints about unbelted passengers in transport vans since the city made changes to its seatbelt policy in transport vans back in April.

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