Chappaqua Man Arrested at Meeting Settles With Town for $9,200
The Chappaqua man who sued the Town of New Castle for $20 million in connection with his arrest and an injury outside a 2018 Planning Board meeting has settled with the town for $9,200.
Last week, the Town Board voted to agree to the settlement with Will Wedge, who had sought compensatory and punitive damages of $10 million each in a federal lawsuit filed last January.
On Jan. 16, 2018, Wedge uttered a profanity during a public hearing on the controversial Sunshine Children’s Home expansion project, getting himself ejected from the meeting room. After a conversation with the two responding officers who were summoned from the downstairs police headquarters to escort him from the meeting, Wedge was ushered to the lower level of the building. Within moments he could be heard screaming and was seen on the ground just outside the building’s doors getting handcuffed.
The New Castle Police Department and sergeants Kelly Close and Mary Hansen, the two responding officers, had also been named in the lawsuit.
A final agreement is being worked on by attorneys for Wedge and the town, said Town Attorney Ed Phillips. The tentative agreement covers legal fees and medical costs, The Examiner has learned.
“The parties are in the process of drafting a settlement agreement that will contain standard provisions,” Phillips said.
Wedge was charged with two counts of harassment, resisting arrest, obstruction of governmental administration and disorderly conduct. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, a violation, early last February, a few weeks after the civil litigation was filed. He was fined $250.
Wedge’s attorney, Robert Berkowitz, declined to make any comment on the settlement citing a confidentiality clause.
Wedge had claimed numerous injuries in the suit, including a broken thumb and an injured shoulder as a result of his encounter with police.
During the Jan. 16, 2018, Planning Board meeting, Wedge argued that the town had failed to conduct proper oversight of the Sunshine Home, allowing them to do unauthorized work on its Spring Valley Road property during Thanksgiving weekend in 2017.
When the attorney for the Planning Board refuted Wedge’s assertion, Wedge called out from his seat “bull—-.”
The Sunshine Home has been moving ahead with site work since earlier this year after obtaining its approvals.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/