Sidoti, who has handled multiple civil rights lawsuits the city settled in recent years.

"I absolutely think where excessive force is used by officers, that the justice system uses criminal charges as leverage to bar potential civil rights plaintiffs," Sidoti said.

In most cases reviewed, charges were later dropped by prosecutors, dismissed by judges or found not credible by juries.

For instance, Judi Patrizi was arrested in 2007 and charged with obstructing official business after an officer said she impeded an assault investigation at Bounce Nightclub.

In a report, an officer described Patrizi pointing in his face and swinging her arm away from him -- an account later disproven by video surveillance at the club. The charges were later dropped and Patrizi sued the city saying she was maliciously prosecuted after theunlawful arrest. The city settled her case for $87,000.

In some cases, those who claimed police brutalized or shot them were offered plea deals that would reduce or drop charges against them only if they agreed not to sue the officers or the city -- a move some call unethical.

Germaine Ware faced charges of felonious assault and failure to comply with police orders, after an incident where he was shot in the neck by a Cleveland police officer. Ware, who was 24 at the time and had no felony record, was a passenger in a car parked near a home where police were summoned for a domestic dispute.

Officer John Sanderson approached the car after he saw what he thought was a suspicious movement. The car drove off. Sanderson said