Gavel

REMERTON — A lawsuit in which a man claimed a Remerton police officer slapped him has been resolved with a settlement, court records show.

A joint motion by attorneys for plaintiff Nicholas Paige and defendants James Athan Stokes and the City of Remerton, among others, asking dismissal of the case because claims against the defendants were “settled and released” was filed Jan. 3 with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. The motion was approved the next day.

Terms of the settlement were not available.

The lawsuit, filed by Paige July 6, 2020, named Police Chief Mike Terrell, former police officer Stokes, the Remerton Police Department, Mayor Cornelius Holsendolph, several Remerton City Council members and City of Remerton as defendants.

The mayor, City Council members and the police chief were later removed as defendants, court documents show.

Paige claimed in the lawsuit he woke up to officers aiming guns and flashlights at him at 3 a.m., Sept. 6, 2019.

Paige said officers told him they entered his home through a downstairs window.

Paige said Stokes told him he was under arrest but called him by the wrong name.

In the lawsuit, Paige said police allowed him to get his identification from his car but kept him restrained in handcuffs.

The lawsuit claimed when Paige questioned why he was being detained, an officer slapped him in the face. A reporter for The Valdosta Daily Times reviewed police body cam footage of the incident provided by Remerton’s city attorney, which did not appear to show any slapping.

The officers eventually left but kept a watch on Paige, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claimed excessive force, lack of training and unconstitutional search and seizure against the defendants.

The city and Stokes claimed in a formal response they were shielded by sovereign immunity and disputed many of Paige’s claims.

At the time of the incident, Stokes was also a reserve deputy for the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office but was later fired by Sheriff Ashley Paulk for an unrelated use-of-force incident, the sheriff said.

The sheriff’s office is not a party to Paige’s lawsuit.