The city of San Diego has agreed to pay $25,000 to settle a federal lawsuit brought by a driver who alleged that police officers violated his Fourth Amendment rights when they smashed his car window during a traffic stop last year. Nicholas Hoskins, who recorded a video of the May 2024 incident, fil ed the civil rights lawsuit last year, alleging negligence by the city and the officers involved in the traffic stop. He also alleged the officers violated his constitutional right against unreasonable search and seizure, and that they violated the Bane Act, a state law that forbids anyone, including law enforcement, from interfering with another person’s constitutional rights by force or threat of violence. Hoskins also alleged in the lawsuit that the traffic stop in question was part of a pattern of San Diego police officers frequently targeting him for minor traffic violations since his 2023 release from prison. Hoskins had been convicted years earlier of gang conspiracy charges and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, but he was freed from custody when the California Supreme Court overturned his conviction after ruling that prosecutors never produced evidence that Hoskins himself had committed violence. Hoskins and his attorneys did not provide a response to questions about the settlement. The San Diego Police Department did not respond to a request for comment. Because the lawsuit settled for just $25,000, it was authorized by the mayor and did not go before the City Council, which typically must approve such settlements. Mayor Todd Gloria is authorized to approve settlements for less than $50,000. In the video Hoskins recorded of the traffic stop, he can be seen answering a police officer’s questions but calmly and firmly denying the officer’s repeated demands that he exit his car so police can search his vehicle. Nicholas Hoskins protects his face from shattered glass as a San Diego police officer smashes his window during a May 9, 2024, traffic stop in Southcrest. (Nicholas Hoskins via McKenzie Scott) “What is the probable cause for the search?” Hoskins asked the officer multiple times, according to the video. The footage showed that without responding, an officer smashed Hoskins’ passenger-side window, pelting him with shards of glass. Hoskins told the Union-Tribune last year that he was intimately familiar with his constitutional rights — especially his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures — after spending eight years in prison for convictions that were later overturned. In the suit, Hoskins alleged that the May 9, 2024, traffic stop was his fourth time being pulled over since his release from prison in early 2023. He alleged that officers had also sought to search his vehicle during the three previous stops, but he had declined and been sent on his way since there was no apparent probable cause. During the May 9 stop, Hoskins set up his phone to record the interaction as he had during the three previous stops. He told the Union-Tribune last year that he didn’t trust the police because of what happened in the case that sent him to prison. “So I like to record and get my own evidence,” he said. “I just want them to be held responsible the same way I’d be held responsible if they found something (illegal) in my car.” As part of the settlement agreement, obtained through a public records request, Hoskins agreed to pay his own attorney fees. ...read more read less