County commissioners agreed Tuesday to pay $425,000 to settle a federal lawsuit brought by a 77-year-old Chicago man who said he was dragged from his car and beaten by a Stroger Hospital police officer while waiting for his wife. 

The man, Agustin Sotomayor, was sitting in his car waiting to pick up his wife from her job at the hospital's Ruth Rothstein CORE Center in September 2006 when he was approached by Officer William Moman.

According to the lawsuit, Moman asked Sotomayor whether he was Mexican and whether he was "legal." When Sotomayor reached for his wallet, the lawsuit says, the officer pulled him out of the car and threw him to the ground.

Both Sotomayor and his wife Manuela were arrested, although charges against both were later dropped.

According to the lawsuit, filed in January 2007, Sotomayor was later kicked, handcuffed and thrown violently into a squad car.

County commissioners, who voted in February 2007 to disband the hospital's 65-member police force, decided Tuesday that it was time to settle the case.

Sotomayor's complaint against Moman is still pending however.

"It's pretty obvious that we should cut our losses," Gorman said. "I think we should look out for the bottom line in this instance."

Commissioner Earlean Collins (D-Chicago) was less certain.

Sotomayor's attorney, Mark Solock, said under the terms of the settlement, he could not comment.