Recent court filings reveal the City of Butler agreed to pay a tentative settlement to a Franklin County man over a police brutality lawsuit.

Plaintiff Joshua Rivera alleged in the May 2019 lawsuit that during a 2017 traffic stop, Butler city police abused their authority by letting loose the department's K-9 officer, Gunner, and the dog “viciously attacked” him while officers watched.

The undisclosed settlement was reached in November, according to court documents, but the existence of the agreement wasn't revealed until recent court filings. The settlement will be paid out by the city's insurance, Allied World.

In the recently released filings, the matter of which side will pay for Rivera's medical bills is discussed as a precursor to reaching a settlement.

One of Rivera's lawyers, Pittsburgh-based Tyler Setcavage, declined to share the settlement amount the city agreed to pay Rivera, nor the amount of his client's medical bills.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Paradise Baxter gave both sides until Friday to file arguments over the matter.

Last summer, the defendants' attorney, Pittsburgh-based attorney Paul D. Krepps, asked a federal judge to dismiss the majority of the lawsuit, arguing it lacks evidence and legal authority to sue.

Rivera was charged with resisting arrest as a result of the incident and pleaded guilty in October 2017.

According to reports, Rivera was the passenger in a vehicle during a routine traffic stop on May 5, 2017, but fled the vehicle on foot because he was wanted on outstanding warrants.

The lawsuit alleges Officer Brian Grooms and an unnamed officer released Gunner to chase and subdue him, and the dog quickly brought him to the ground with two bites. In Rivera's original filing, he named the City of Butler, Butler City Police Department, Grooms, former Deputy Police Chief David Adam and another unidentified officer.

But after the defendants' attorneys asked a federal judge to dismiss the majority of the lawsuit, Rivera refiled the complaint, dropping the police department, Adam and the two officers. The decision was made after an agreement was reached in earlier negotiations between the two sides, according to Setcavage. The remaining defendant named in the lawsuit is the City of Butler.

“After the plaintiff (Rivera) stopped, the officers allowed the dog to continue grabbing at (his) arm and would not elicit a command to allow the dog to release it,” the complaint said, arguing later in the document that “there were no circumstances that made (Rivera) a danger to the defendants (the officers) or the public at large.”

The officers then ordered Rivera to get down on the ground, according to the complaint, but he did not comply out of fear that the dog would bite his face. The suit claims Rivera told the officers of his fear and that they tased him because he refused to follow their commands.

The complaint further claims Rivera's Fourth Amendment and 14th Amendment rights were violated because of excessive force on the part of the officers. The suit originally accused the officers of failure to intervene for allowing the dog to continue biting him even after he was subdued.

Gunner, the department's 7-year-old canine used in Rivera's arrest, was euthanized in late 2018 due to reported health problems.