By MIKE WELLS
The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is offering $100,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit filed by a woman who says former Deputy Daniel Brock used excessive force in arresting her after she cursed at him and called him names.

Mary Beth Mazar, 52, of Valrico, filed a lawsuit against the sheriff’s office and Brock in federal court in August 2006 concerning an August 2002 incident in which her juvenile son was arrested for drug paraphernalia, she was arrested for driving under the influence and her then 12-year-old daughter was handcuffed and placed in a patrol car.

Mazar submitted to a Breathalyzer test at the jail, and it showed no alcohol was present in her system. Charges against her were dropped.
A copy of the settlement acceptance letter was filed Thursday with the court clerk. It details that the settlement amount will be paid in two amounts - $80,000 to Mazar’s daughter and $20,000 to Mazar.

Once a formal agreement is signed by both parties, the sheriff’s office would be removed as a defendant from the case. Brock remains a defendant in the case. A motion he filed to dismiss the case based on his “qualified immunity” as a uniformed officer performing his duties is pending.

Attorneys for Brock and Mazar could not be reached late Friday for comment. When reached by phone, sheriff’s chief legal counsel Ellen Leonard declined to discuss the terms of the settlement offer.

Brock, 38, was Hillsborough County’s top deputy for making DUI arrests until he was fired in June. An internal affairs investigation found he might have sent innocent people to jail and failed to follow the agency’s standard operating procedures. The state attorney’s office has refused to allow him to testify in any future cases and prosecutors are reviewing his previous work on DUI cases.

Brock has denied any wrongdoing and is appealing his termination.

On Aug. 31, 2002, Mazar received a phone call from someone telling her that her son had been arrested and to come to the scene to pick up his car or it would be impounded, her petition said. Deputies reported finding a marijuana pipe inside the teen’s car and smelling alcohol on the woman’s breath.

According to Mazar’s petition, she ignored a deputy’s order not to approach her son or his car. She grew upset at the deputies for conducting what she considered an illegal search of her son’s car, yelled profanities at them and got into the car and drove it home.

Mazar said she yelled: “You [expletive], you’ve got nothing better to do than ruin people’s lives.”

She repeated several slurs and Brock told her she was under arrest and pursued her in his patrol car to her home, the petition said. He followed her on foot into her home, tackled her and used pepper spray to subdue her. Mazar’s daughter walked into the room and began yelling for Brock to leave her mother alone and the girl was restrained in a patrol car, as well.

Her lawsuit alleges that she suffered physical and psychological problems as a result of the incident and that her daughter suffered recurring fear and depression.

Reporter Mike Wells can be reached at (813) 657-4534 or mwells@tampatrib.com.

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